Why Not?
by White Mage Koorii
Summary: KaiHakuShin; They're Kid's top rivals, and they both want to capture the thief in more ways than the obvious. It seems that Kid's favorite detectives are at a bit of an impasse.
1. Part 1

**Pairing(s): **HakuShin, KaiHakuShin, KaiShin, HakuKai (etc etc)

**Warnings: **Threesome, Angst, Depressed Shinichi.

**A/N:** Right. So. First chapter of my "Christmas Project" because I don't know if I'll have it done in time as, recently, I have been ambushed by a plunnie that insists it be written. So, surprise! you get a chapter now, and I'll update as I finish them.

Also, I edited this just tonight and I'm running on 3 hours of sleep. Forgive me if I missed stuff. And, y'know, I meant this to be a light hearted quick fic... but somehow I ended up with a depressed Shinichi and some weird romance/drama plot thing.

On another note... This chapter's mostly character establishment and background stuff so it's boring and I think it sucks. (Even if Sera and Sama seem to really like it) Sorry. D:

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**Part 1**

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A lot of things had changed after Conan and the Black Organization, not the least of which was Shinichi becoming an internationally known person. It wasn't always a good thing, really. Fame, he had long ago decided, was not what it was worked up to be. Though, at least it did make some things easier as he had often learned. Where before he would have had a bit of a fight on his hands with foreign cops in his ever going quest to solve a crime, the last time he'd been to America he'd been greeted with far more respect than the last. His father was still much more renowned, which still peeved him a bit, but he'd beat his father some day. It was a working goal.

All the same, while that was one of the largest of the changes in an objective point, the more important changes had occurred much closer to home. Things like Mouri Ran.

In the past Shinichi had always imagined that, by now, in his early twenties he'd either be steadily dating, engaged, or married to her. He wasn't any of these things, and, in fact, his long time friend wasn't even in the country. Things had been... _rocky_ for awhile when he'd returned. They'd tried to work things out, even gone on a few dates, but, well, with the knowledge that Shinichi had a massive secret hanging between them things just _hadn't_ seemed to mesh well. Ran had said it best: A relationship can't be built on secrets.

Shinichi had agreed with her, and though it hurt he let her go. They strove, in the end, to return to a comfortable friendship since they could not seem to strive for more, and, eventually, they had managed it. Things would never be the same, perhaps they would never be as close as they once were, but they were still friends and that was what mattered. Shinichi wasn't quite sure what he would do without Ran's steady presence _somewhere_ in his life.

Still, his friend had decided to go to America to attend a school there, much to the grumbling of her father, but Eri had shut him up soon enough and told him to be proud of his little girl. They talked on the phone often, and Shinichi knew she was keeping in close contact with his own parents, which eased his worries a great deal. He couldn't help but want to make sure she was safe even now. She'd always own a part of his heart, after all.

Another change that Shinichi had never expected was that he'd ever have a sort of _partner_ in his detective work. Sure, he and Hattori had worked together quite a bit, and they still did when it proved useful and came up. Heiji was still one of his closest and most reliable friends, but Heiji was also in Osaka, and had things of his own to worry about. Shinichi didn't begrudge him one bit, doubted he could. Heiji had saved his life, literally, more than once.

Shinichi shot a grateful, if not tired, smile at the cop who handed him his school bag, as well as his partner's. They had been left behind in the sudden chaos of the crime, a hostage situation gone wrong, and he really hadn't been looking forward to finding them again, nor having to replace them if things went that badly. Giving a polite bow, and murmuring his thanks, Shinichi set them by his feet.

"Kudou-kun," a cultured if not bland voice interrupted Shinichi's musings and he blinked away the cobwebs in his mind to focus on the present. "The suspect is in custody, unless you've had another of your epiphanies and are going to inform me we've had it wrong this entire time."

Shinichi barked out a laugh at the perfectly dry delivery, and turned to face Hakuba, the look on the blond's face was as wry as his tone, though he looked far more ruffled than usual: Blond hair mussed, and a smudge of dirt across one cheek, a small scratch on his left temple had already stopped bleeding. Shinichi was pretty sure he looked just as bad. "The chances that we were wrong don't seem to be very high."

Hakuba's lips twitched before he gave in and offered up a slight smirk. "Considering how hard he fought, and the fact that the murder was committed in front of around twenty people, if not more? You're probably correct. Whatever could have had you spacing out so much that you'd miss the delivery?"

"The past," Shinichi hedged nebulously. "And how different things turned out than I expected."

"During a case? Really, Kudou-kun I would think at this point in your career you would have learned to pay attention already." Despite the fact that the half-Brit's tone was faintly scolding, Shinichi took it as the light natured ribbing it was. It was hard to believe that _Hakuba Saguru_ could tease, but after meeting the blond's long time sort-of friend, Kuroba Kaito, he could easily see who had managed to teach him to loosen up a bit. It was a massive difference from the stiff, smug teenager he could remember meeting a few times as Conan.

"Everything was under control, and you hardly needed my help."

The other detective snorted wryly, about to retort when one of the cops called out to the two of them. Hakuba lifted his hand to signal he'd be there in a second, then gave him another sharp, searching look. It was one of the things Shinichi hated about being friends with another detective, they always looked beneath the surface, just like he did, in search of any and all clues to work out the mystery you presented. Shinichi and his quiet world astounding case, along with his part in it, were an extreme mystery, after all. He'd never told a soul, had kept his mentioned involvement to nothing more than that. He'd been involved, a key part of the take down, but no one ever found out _how_.

Unless he had a good reason not to, Shinichi would take the secret of Edogawa Conan to the grave with him, as would the few other people who knew.

"I called Kuroba-kun to see if he would mind the two of us dropping by since he lives near here." That said, the blond turned and headed over to see what the cops needed.

Shinichi shoved his hands into his pockets and waited, trying to ignore the nettling bits of pain from the scuffle to subdue the suspect. The man had been half mad, raving and ranting after he'd murdered his wife in the middle of a nearby empty lot. The evidence was, of course, overwhelming, but the hard part had been to _catch_ the insane man. The pair of them had outstripped the other police by a good deal. Shinichi put it down to spending too much time chasing Kaitou Kid, really.

The thief, he had to admit, was one of the major points of contention between them, but he was glad to have Hakuba as a working partner. It eased his paranoia and stress levels more than he believed it could. After the Black Organization had been dealt with he'd expected to just step back into his regular life, only to find it next to impossible. Working cases on his own, stepping back into the spotlight, had unnerved him so much he'd pretty much had a nervous breakdown.

He'd almost given up his dream, had stopped taking on cases very much for several years until he got into university and, without knowing what else to do with himself, signed up for classes to further his career as a detective. It was in those that he'd met Hakuba as Shinichi for the first time, and it was there, during a murder on campus, when they'd first worked in tandem. Shinichi had later learned that Hakuba had moved to Japan indefinitely to spend more time chasing Kid without constantly uprooting his studies.

Since then the two of them had worked together whenever possible, and a shared interest had made it easy to form a friendship, and, of course, with Hakuba came Kuroba, the blond's favorite suspect. Shinichi even knew a few of their other highschool friends, though he wasn't around them nearly as much as the two men. Nakamori Aoko's resemblance to Ran had unnerved him so much at first that he'd pretty much gone mute around her, unable to even look at her. Kuroba hadn't been pleased, thinking he was snubbing his friend, but with some hedged explanations things had been smoothed over.

Kuroba had even admitted that he could understand. Apparently he and Aoko had a lot of parallels to Shinichi and Ran. Between them all, well, they'd been able to help him simply by not caring, and not having that sort of dark tension between them that Ran had. With Hakuba watching his back, he could feel safe knowing that the chance of another incident like Conan happening again had decreased phenomenally.

Hakuba returned looking half bored, half annoyed, and Shinichi fell into step with him even as he handed the blond's bag to him. They'd ended up at the scene right after class, and been there until now with the exception of that little chase. "What did they need?"

"Thank you. To ask if we required medical attention and to read us a lecture about chasing down dangerous armed suspects."

"Which you walked away in the middle of," Shinichi deadpanned.

"Of course," Hakuba sniffed as they paused at a crosswalk with a small cluster of other pedestrians. Cars prowled by, the city darkening into night around them while windows lit with the internal glow of electric lighting. "I wasn't going to stand there and listen to that old windbag treat me like I was some green idiot."

Shinichi forced back the smile that wanted to creep up, well aware that it could make Hakuba close up if he didn't. It wasn't everyone that the other detective was relaxed enough around to gripe so openly. Hakuba was still just as tactless and blunt as he'd ever been, but he was a little more forward about it with some people. "He's just not as used to being upstaged as Division One," Shinichi pointed out, playing devils advocate.

The pair of them sauntered across the crosswalk, thick white stripes passing by underfoot without a thought. Someone shouldered passed him in their rush, and Shinichi sent a baleful look at their back. That had _hurt_, he might not need medical attention but that didn't mean he wasn't bruising all over the place.

"It's not my fault that we don't deal with the hostage negotiators all that much. Most of the cases we stumble across are usually well and truly dead." Then looking faintly pained, Hakuba admitted, "Or they are too slippery to be caught."

"I'm sure he'd appreciate the compliment," Shinichi informed him blandly, swinging out of of the way of another hurrying passer by to keep them from jostling him this time.

Hakuba's only reply was a rude snort. They fell into silence, too tired to really keep the banter up at this point, but Shinichi could feel the tension that had settled between them at the mere mention of the thief. Hakuba's posture had changed as well, shifting from relaxed and tired to tensed shoulders that spoke of the agitation coiled just beneath the surface. He could feel it in himself as well; feel it in the tightening of his pocketed hands into fists and the way the languor had that encompassed him had disappeared.

Both of them wanted to catch him, they both _wanted_ him. It was an unspoken knowledge between them that had turned every heist since understanding had dawned into a competition; into a silent battle that they warred to see who could capture the thief's attention. There was a silent agreement to keep it to the heists, even if it didn't always work. Testosterone and competitive nature being what it was, there was inevitable spill over.

They wandered passed a bar, the door propped open to allow the sounds of merriment within to filter out on the shadowed street along with the smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke. A young couple around their age stood near the entrance, the girl excitedly bouncing as she waved and called to a friend further down the street. The boy with her looked caught between boredom and reluctant amusement.

It was a faint reminder of what he'd lost, one that only gave birth to an echo, of a pang, in his heart. He'd moved on, left that all behind and was facing his future, changed as it was, without flinching. He hadn't dated since then, hadn't been able to find what he wanted in the mostly shallow social circles he sometimes found himself in. After experiencing something as deep as the connection he'd had with Ran, Shinichi couldn't help but feel anything less wasn't worth his time. Instant gratification might be wonderful, but Shinichi had visited the dark side of life and learned more about patience and frustration then most people could ever understand.

What he wanted, was someone who could keep him on his toes, someone who challenged him on every level and who could understand him, a person who could watch his back, be stability and balance. It was all very sappy and stupidly girlish sounding no matter how he looked at it. There were very few people who could, and one was currently a good ten years younger than he was, physically, while the other was dating someone. Not, of course, that Shinichi begrudged Hattori and Toyama their happiness. In the end the one that remained was...

"There is a heist coming up," Hakuba muttered out of nowhere. There was a barely there edge to his voice, strained, as if he wasn't sure he wanted to share this information. Shinichi glanced at him, and found that the blond, while looking perfectly normal to everyone else, had his head tilted down marginally. It was a sign of bullheadedness and pride he'd come to notice from exposure.

"When?" Shinichi asked, doing his best to mask his own annoyance with the thought that Hakuba would keep the information from him until, perhaps, too late when he learned it from the media. The task force seemed to see him as something of an outsider even now, closing ranks and keeping information from him when it suited them. He'd long ago learned not to bother asking and tended to rely on Kuroba or Hakuba to drop him information if they wanted. Or he'd find it himself.

Kudou Shinichi was not without resources, after all.

"The day after tomorrow. Nakamori-keibu has been trying to keep it quiet to avoid the usual media circus, and, for once, the owner of the jewel isn't putting up much of a fight." Shinichi recognized the derision in Hakuba's voice easily enough, and knew it was directed toward the owner rather than anything else.

Silence fell again, and Shinichi let it, wishing that the tension would evaporate but knowing it was only going to get worse over the next day or so, just as it always did. They were at an impasse, neither willing to fully declare their intentions, and neither willing to step down. Kid showed them both the same reaction, whoever tried the hardest, whoever came the closest won the thief's attention, and Shinichi could tell that he was thriving in the competition, though he had no idea whether the thief realized the undertones or not. His bet was that he didn't. So, they tried, going all out against each other and Kid himself in an attempt to sway the thief's attention more toward one of them or the other. It was a silent war, never spoken of, never remarked on, but very very present. They were Kid's top two rivals, after all, the best at thwarting him, the best at understanding him.

Shinichi slowed to a stop, eyes gazing at a Pachinko parlor across the street, on the corner, with a far away look in his eyes. He wasn't really seeing it so much as seeing the past. A shattered flow of memories assaulted him with remembered sounds and images: Of Kogoro muttering, words half slurred from the alcohol he'd already consumed that he was leaving, of sitting at the window, staring out at the dark streets below while Ran stalked around the room behind him grumbling about her father, of Ran pulling on her jacket, and making sure he had his on too, then taking his hand and marching off to find the old man, and of finding him and watching Ran drag him home while he cursed and complained in blurred words no one could understand.

"Kudou-kun?"

Shinichi blinked away the memories, and glanced at Hakuba with a dazed 'Hm?'

"Are you sure you're alright?" The other man sounded faintly worried, a welcome respite from the dark atmosphere that had settled between them like an unseen monster. "Perhaps you hit your head and we were unaware of it," Hakuba murmured hand lifting and reaching toward him before stopping mid air and dropping back to tuck into the blond's pocket.

An idea settled at the corner of Shinichi's mind right then, a half sort of realization that slipped through his fingers, but left him feeling oddly satisfied as if he'd just understood something at long last while still leaving him frustrated because he could not figure out what that epiphany was. He left it alone for now, knowing it could come to the fore when his mind had full comprehension. It was only a matter of time.

Pasting an arrogant slash of a smile on his lips, Shinichi bunched his shoulders upward in a half hearted shrug. "I didn't, a thought occurred to me is all." And, beyond that, he couldn't help but think that, with those thoughts, maybe he hadn't yet left the past as far behind him as he had thought. It wasn't the first time that fact had occurred to him either, sometimes the past seemed inescapable.

Shinichi wondered if he would ever be able to get away from the connections that weighed him down, made him unable to forget and move on completely. He could push it away for awhile, then it would reemerge like a nightmare from his childhood.

Hakuba looked like he wanted to ask, but decided to refrain, and turned away to head down the street. After a moment's longer pause Shinichi followed and they left the street they'd been on behind to walk toward the darker less sparsely populated streets between tall apartment complexes. Kuroba had moved out of his mother's home sometime ago. Hakuba had once told Shinichi he thought it was to make it harder to pin any evidence on him. Shinichi figured he was probably right.

Direction was automatic, they'd visited Kuroba often enough that they knew the way from almost any direction without any conscious thought. Hakuba lead the way, Shinichi content to follow the taller man, eyes staring contemplatively at the pavement as it passed beneath his feet.

The building Kuroba lived in was a simple two story affair, the apartments accessed from outside. The two of them climbed up the stairs onto the balcony walkway on the upper floor, and passed the quiet apartments to Kuroba's. Before Hakuba could even knock the door swung open, something that surprised neither of the detective's. The other man, Shinichi's near twin but for a small difference in build, the way they'd filled out, and the wild hair, blinked at them. Kuroba greeted them with a flat, "You two look like hell."

"Thank you, Kuroba-kun," Hakuba replied morosely. "We feel like hell too."

The magician looked toward Shinichi for confirmation, and Shinichi merely lifted one shoulder in an apathetic shrug. He'd been in worse pain so he wouldn't really call this hell. Hakuba sighed, a sure sign that he was following all this silent communication just fine, and could they please _move on_?

Kuroba stepped back, one hand still on the door handle, and bowed slightly, extending his other hand in a sweeping gesture to motion them in. Hakuba gave him an unamused, petulant look before walking passed him into the warm glow of the apartment. Shinichi followed, silently amused by the face Kuroba was making at the other detective's back.

Pausing just on the threshold, Shinichi turned to Kuroba and informed him, "Hakuba-kun thinks you're slippery."

Kuroba blinked once but didn't miss a beat, he never did. "Hakuba-kun thinks I do what in my spare time?"

"Must you speak of me as if I'm not here?" Hakuba asked sharply, though there was an undertone of complaint there as well that almost made Shinichi laugh.

"Did you hear a voice, Kudou-kun?" Kuroba asked blithely.

Cracking a small smile at last, Shinichi toed off his shoes, paused a moment to crouch down and turn them around next to Hakuba's, and stepped into one of the pairs of slippers sitting nearby. Kuroba drifted passed him and further into the small room. It was a modest space, really, only a tiny kitchen, a main room, a small bedroom, and a bathroom. It was what one would expect a brand new, up and coming magician of Kuroba's caliber to afford. Kuroba had had offers from very talented magicians to be their apprentice; offers that included food and board, but Kuroba had turned them all down.

Stepping into the main room, and absently setting his bag against one wall where it would be out of the way, Shinichi glanced over the organized chaos that made it up with the same faint feeling of amusement as usual. Gadgets and tricks were settled on all the shelves, a television tucked into one corner and the low table in the middle of the room covered in a variety of tools and the bits and pieces of something Shinichi couldn't even identify. Kuroba merely grabbed a plastic container and began sweeping the assorted screws, washers, a bits of metal into it without even blinking. The half built what-ever-it-was found itself relocated onto a shelf with his other projects. The entire time he was stepping around books and papers that littered the floor.

"I think," Shinichi murmured, eying the way Hakuba was directing a potent glare at Kuroba's back. "that the voice wants to murder you." That glare turned on him then, and Shinichi blinked lazily in response.

"He wouldn't dare," Kuroba chirped. "Not with the great Heisei Holmes around. He'd never get away with it. First aid kit is under the table, by the way."

Ignoring Hakuba's grumbled 'Why the devil is it under there?' and Kuroba's bland reply of 'It's easier to get to when the two of you come stumbling over looking like something the neighbors cat left on my doorstep.' Shinichi drawled, "It's good to know someone still has faith in my abilities."

Kuroba turned to him with a wink and a grin. "I would never have any doubt."

The first aid kit clattered loudly against the wood of the table as Hakuba set it down a little more sharply than was normal. "Though it isn't all that surprising that people have their doubts considering the last several years."

Shinichi froze for a split second before calmly settling down beside the table on one of the cushions there and resting his arms atop it. He focused his attention on the television which was showing a news channel. Somehow he wasn't surprised to see a recording of himself as he tackled the suspect from earlier, only to get slammed into a wall by the man. Hakuba arrived on the scene a few seconds after that, Shinichi being a faster runner from years of soccer practice.

"Low blow, Hakuba-kun," Kuroba said, though Shinichi barely heard him. "Stop being such a bitch or I'm going to kick your ass out of here."

From the corner of his eye, Shinichi could see Hakuba grimace, could feel eyes on him for a moment before they flickered away again and the quiet sounds of the blond rummaging through the first aid kit. After a moment, and the soft tap of a few things being set down, Hakuba cleared his throat and said, a bit haltingly, "My apologies, Kudou-kun. That really was out of line."

He was obviously sincere, and Shinichi knew it, so he flicked a glance toward the blond, noting his bowed head and intent concentration on the table top and a bottle of antiseptic. "It's only the truth," Shinichi pointed out dismissively. And, even though it was forgiven, even if it was understood, Shinichi still felt a little numb in spite of himself.

Somewhere out of sight, Kuroba made a despairing sound, one that usually meant he thought that they were both completely without help and nothing he could do would fix either of them. That wasn't unusual either, really, and it made a bit of humor seep back into him, but it just seemed to be swallowed up by the cold void that had opened in the vicinity of his chest.

"Are the two of you hungry?" Kuroba called. "I saw on the news that you two have been there all afternoon. I've got some left over Chinese."

"How left over?" Hakuba answered absently, busy cleaning out a small cut on the heel of his palm. There was a tiny shard of broken glass laying on the table, bloody and dull. Shinichi couldn't even remember how he'd gotten that, he'd been too caught up in the case at the time, too focused on catching the suspect before he hurt anyone else.

"It's from earlier tonight, idiot," Kuroba's voice said from closer by. Shinichi flinched when Kuroba's hand touched his shoulder slightly. He hadn't realized until now how sore it was, though it didn't feel like anything more than some bad bruising. Probably from having it jammed inward when he'd collided with the wall. "Kudou-kun, are you alright?"

Grimacing slightly, Shinichi forced the black mood that had settled on him back and looked up to find two sets of eyes on him. "I'm fine, just some bruises and a pulled muscle. Possibly a sprained wrist." The words were barely out of his mouth before Kuroba had sat down beside him, Hakuba at his back, and tugged Shinichi's indicated wrist toward him. "What are you–" Shinichi was cut off by a quiet hiss of pain when Kuroba bent his hand too far one way and a flare of pain sparked along his nerves.

"Just making sure it isn't broken," the other man muttered. "Don't look at me like that, Hakuba-kun. Clean out that cut on your head before it gets infected. There's a mirror in my desk, top drawer on this side. You can't miss it."

"I'm fairly certain that I didn't break anything," Shinichi retorted drily.

Hakuba stood up without a word, and wandered over to the desk to retrieve the mirror in question. He was back a few seconds latter with it in hand, and settled it on the table in a small stand he'd brought with, especially for that, and set about cleaning the small gash on his temple.

"If that needs stitches I'm not doing it," Kuroba said pointedly, never even looking up. "I'm just checking Kudou-kun. I think I have a wrist brace around here somewhere. We're pretty much the same size so it should fit you just fine. Just let me go find it."

Shinichi thought about telling him not to bother, then just sighed and settled in more comfortably. Once Kuroba got an idea in his head there was no stopping him, really. Instead he just absently watched him rummage through a few drawers with the half hearted manner of someone who knew where they kept all their mess but generally misplaced things within specified piles of said mess.

"Didn't you have a show earlier tonight?" he asked instead.

"I've got about an hour before I have to leave," the magician replied, giving a triumphant sound as he returned with the brace and took possession of Shinichi's hand again. "The two of you are welcome to stay here tonight if you want to. You know where everything is, futons in the closest, and one of you can use the bed. Kudou-kun, you can borrow some clothes tomorrow if you don't want to run home before your classes. We're close enough in size."

"Excuse me for being a few inches taller than the two of you," Hakuba muttered darkly.

"Your genetics are inexcusable, Hakuba-kun," Kuroba deadpanned right back. "Besides, as much as the two of you show up here like this you'd think you would just start leaving something here, or carry a change of clothes with you."

Shinichi coughed to cover a chuckle. "It's not like we expect to run into criminals, Kuroba-kun."

"No," Kuroba allowed, after a long moment and great deliberation. "but you do anyway."

–

Shinichi woke up to the smell of coffee, as intoxicating as any spell. He couldn't even remember falling asleep, hadn't actually planned on it, and had merely settled against one wall, curled up in a way he'd come to use while Conan. It minimized space, made him smaller and less noticeable, and generally left him feeling slightly more secure. Which, he supposed, was the point. It was a silly inconsequential thing, but then his mind had grasped for things like that at times.

The last thing he really remembered from the night before was downing a couple of over the counter pain relievers to ward off the pain starting to throb in his shoulder, getting settled, and seeing Hakuba still sitting at the table, eyes fixated on the television long after Kuroba had left for his show. He could remember the flickering blue glow from the screen, and the way it had highlighted the other detective's hair, face, and his hands that were clasped before him, chin resting against them, as well as the white of the bandage Hakuba had wrapped around the one.

After that, it was as if he'd merely blinked and lost time, and now it was morning. Someone had draped a blanket around him as best they could, though he didn't know who. His entire body was feeling stiff, muscles cramped, and joints sore, particularly that shoulder. He supposed that was to be expected after being rammed into a cement wall though.

Shinichi uncurled his arms slowly, feeling every muscle in them and his back protesting every movement no matter how small. A particularly sharp stab made him cringe and curl in on himself again. He obviously hadn't really moved at all during the night if the way his muscles had tightened up was anything to go by.

"Take it slow," A voice Shinichi easily identified as Kuroba said, not unkindly. Shinichi merely grunted in response. He well knew how to deal with his own injuries thank you very much. "I had wanted to move you to the bed or something last night when I got home, but neither of us really wanted to wake you up." Kuroba scowled suddenly, resting one hand on his hip while Shinichi carefully stretched his arms out. "How much sleep have you bee getting lately? Even _Hakuba-kun_ has noticed that you look like death warmed over."

That gave Shinichi pause, and he tilted his head up to look at the nonplussed magician. Kuroba seemed to be scrutinizing him just as much as Shinichi was him. Did he really look that bad? As far as he knew he didn't. Finally, not sure what else to say he just shrugged in bafflement and said, "Enough. Where _is_ Hakuba-kun?"

Kuroba turned away with a muttered 'Define enough,' and crouched down to rummage around the odds and ends on the table. He had, apparently, been quietly working on his project again. "He left early this morning. Do you want another dose? Hakuba-kun told me you took a few before you fell asleep." As if to get his point across the man turned on his heels and held out the bottle of pain relievers then gave it a good shake to rattle the pills inside.

"Ah," Shinichi hummed, deliberating even as he picked himself up and moved to join the other man at the table, favoring his shoulder. The way his skin felt, hot and tender to every shift of his shirt fabric, he guessed he was probably pretty banged up. The real ache, though was more bone deep and sitting in the joint. Wincing as he settled at the side of the table he decided that, yes, he would like another. "That would be great."

Kuroba shoved aside a number of small metallic pieces and set the bottle of pills on the table in front of him, as if he'd been expecting that answer. He probably had been. "I'll get you a cup of coffee." As Kuroba walked away and Shinichi reached out to grab the bottle and twist off the cap, he called back, "I kept some breakfast for you. It should still be warm. I just went out and bought some things before I made it."

Shinichi almost laughed at the automatically added disclaimer. Kuroba was far too used to the two of them teasing him about his inability to remember to buy food regularly it seemed. Having been living on his own for years, Shinichi found it more amusing than was probably necessary.

That was Kuroba for you though, and Shinichi didn't think anyone would have it any other way. Kuroba always seemed... _refreshing,_ was the only way to really put it. He didn't care about things like Hakuba and he, wasn't caught up in the tight hold of the fronts they put up, but that wasn't to say Kuroba was without his own pretenses. Simply, Kuroba Kaito was more free with himself and other people than just about anyone else Shinichi had ever known, and he liked that. It was that, as well as the intelligence, challenge, and ability to understand through similar history that drew Shinichi to Kuroba like a moth to a flame.

Kuroba set a mug of faintly steaming coffee down in front of him, followed by a couple of bowls and all the needed paraphernalia for eating. A simple breakfast of steamed rice, natto, and miso soup. "Not much, but I've seen the way you eat."

"Like you're one to talk."

Kuroba winked cheerfully at him, because they both knew that he had a tendency to get so caught up in his newest trick or other little projects that he forgot to eat until someone forcefully reminded him and dragged him away from whatever he was working on. "Yes, well, think of it as me returning the favor, Kudou-kun."

A tiny smile worked its way onto his lips, before sliding off, his eyes watching Kuroba's hand as the magician fidgeted with the bowls a moment longer. He was pulling away, and Shinichi reached out to catch hold of Kuroba's wrist before he realized what he was doing. Looking up slowly, Shinichi met the magician's slightly startled blue-violet stare.

It occurred to Shinichi that, if he wanted to he could make move right here, right now. Maybe he would be rejected, maybe not, but he _could_. Hakuba wasn't here, all he would have to do was tug Kuroba down and he could just _kiss_ him and see where things went. Yet, even as the thought occurred to him, Shinichi knew he wouldn't, couldn't, do that. He wanted to, a great deal, but it just didn't seem _right_ somehow. Finally, he just released Kuroba ignoring the confused look he was getting, and murmured, "Thank you, Kuroba-kun. For this time, and the others."

The baffled look on his face softened slightly into a smile, and Kuroba shrugged. "What else could I do? Turn the two of you away?"

Shinichi would have said that that was exactly what he could have done, but the way Kuroba said those words made him stop. It also made that nagging thought that had been lingering at the back of his mind, the idea he'd meant to stay awake and mull over, stir. He tried to grasp it, only for it to slip through his metaphorical fingers again. Not letting that fact get to him he rolled his shoulder in a faint shrug and said, "Hakuba-kun would just accuse you of being up to no good if you did."

"Exactly," Kuroba replied pertly, straightening up. "I'll go see if I can find you a change of clothes to borrow that won't make you want to strangle me."

To be fair to Hakuba though, he hadn't really gotten on Kuroba's case that much. Kuroba had told Shinichi about how the blond used to be, and from his own experiences with the man, then teenager, as Conan, Shinichi could believe it. It was also that fact that often made Shinichi feel like he was intruding, like he should just back down and let Hakuba, well, he didn't want to say _win_ because this wasn't exactly that kind of competition.

The very idea scared him though, more than Shinichi cared to admit. Where would he be? What would be left then? He didn't think that the two would just _forget_ about him, but at the same time knew that things would change. They would shift, and Shinichi would, inevitably, be the one left behind. All his brain seemed to be able to come up with when he went over the scenario in his mind was '_not again.'_ He wondered if this clenching uncertainty was what Ran had felt all that time, which only made him feel like a miserable bastard.

Maybe it was karmic retribution.

_That_ thought made him snort, and, attempting to shake off the malaise that had settled around him, reached out for the bottle of pills. Shaking a couple into his hand he set it aside again and popped them into his mouth before reaching for the coffee. It wasn't hot enough to scald, nor quite as dark as he preferred it, but the caffeine settling into his system along with the pain relievers felt wonderful.

Sighing he took another steadying swallow of coffee, giving a little hum of content at the strong flavor, then set the mug back down and reached for the food. He didn't want to seem rude, after all, even if his stomach seemed to be in knots that were making the idea of eating fairly unappetizing right then. Plus, he should probably have something in his stomach with the pain killers.

That settled he turned his mind to eating, focusing only on that and shutting out all the hundreds of other nameless thoughts that persisted to clutter his brain. He was so intently focused on his food, one bite to the next and not really even tasting it, that he didn't even notice when Kuroba came back until the magician sat down nearby and pulled his latest project toward him. Silence settled in, comfortable and easy, with only the small metallic sounds from Kuroba's tools, and the slight sound of tableware.

Finally settling back, and resting his chopsticks across the rim of his emptied rice bowl, Shinichi asked, "How did your show go last night?"

Kuroba grinned brilliantly. "It went great. They want to schedule me again, and it's a really nice venue. Pays well too. Maybe some day you and Hakuba-kun can come and watch."

"Only if we shut up and suspend our disbelief, right?" Shinichi shot back drily.

"If you ruined it for the rest of the crowd, I'd have to kill you," Kuroba agreed cheerfully. "Kill you so well that even you couldn't solve your own murder."

Shinichi thought about pointing how, being dead, they wouldn't be able to solve it _anyway_, but changed his mind at the last second and decided to practice separating his suspension of disbelief from his literal life view. He could swear he heard the other man mutter something about teaching detective's new tricks, and shot him a sardonic look.

"What time is it anyway?" Automatically Shinichi glanced around for a clock, even though he knew he wouldn't see one. Kuroba, for some reason, didn't have any in his home. Shinichi was almost certain that it was to annoy the habitually punctual Hakuba.

Lifting his hand Kuroba glanced at his wristwatch for a moment then said, "Almost noon." Blue violet eyes flicked up, and Shinichi found himself under that considering gaze again for several moments. "You already missed your morning classes. Why don't you just go home and take the day off? You really don't look so good, Kudou-kun."

Had he? Well, shit. Sighing again, Shinichi rubbed a hand over his face, then shook his head. "I'll be fine. I just need a shower, and maybe another cup of coffee." So said, he drained the rest of the mug and sat it back on the table.

"If you say so, Kudou-kun. Just don't push yourself too hard, we don't want you to collapse on us or something."

Half way to standing up, Shinichi paused, inclining his head to look back down at the surface of the table with its scattered components, and asked, "Don't you have to go in today as well?"

Kuroba groaned, letting his head thump down on the table at the reminder, though Shinichi highly doubted he'd actually forgotten. In fact he was pretty sure the image of a lazy student that Kuroba projected was completely fabricated. He enjoyed the things he did far too much to ever mind learning more about them. "Yeah, once you're ready we can go together. I'll just get this stuff cleaned up and find my books."

Shinichi laughed lightly, earning an amused smirk from the other man, though Kuroba didn't bother to remove his disconsolate gaze from the mess of books he was eying with a small amount of trepidation. Smirking in amusement, Shinichi turned away and headed off toward the bathroom.

When Shinichi returned he found Kuroba waiting patiently, eyes riveted on some show on the TV that was loud, flashy, and reminded Shinichi of the things he'd been subjected to by the Shounen Tantei when he was Conan. He must have chuckled, because Kuroba turned toward him, brow quirking in silent question as if to ask 'You expected anything less?' The reminder of the three children who had, by their own volition become his friends, sent a pang through his heart. He hadn't seen much of them since he had become Shinichi again. What he did see of them was mere glimpses as they enjoyed cheerful days with Ai.

Haibara herself had changed a great deal from the uptight girl she'd been, and, while she was still intensely serious for the most part, ever since the Black Organization had fallen she had been more, well, _free, _he supposed. Which made a lot of sense. The added blessing of a second childhood allowed her a new chance a life, and it made Ai seem downright happy. The APTX had been Miyano Shiho's saving grace while it had just destroyed Shinichi's life. It was at time like this that he wondered if he wouldn't have been better off remaining Conan, though those moments were always short lived.

If he'd have stayed Conan he would have been plagued with what if's. So, even if things were not perfect, at least he knew he had done his best. His lowest points, few and far between, were when he'd actually contemplated asking Haibara to whip up a batch of Apotoxin so that Conan could come back. After all, it wasn't like many people would miss Shinichi if he left again.

Grabbing his bag Shinichi went to shoulder it only to have it snatched away by Kuroba. "I'll carry it for you," the magician informed him cheerfully. "The last thing you need is to end up actually doing some damage."

Shinichi frowned. "I'm not going do any damage. It's just bruised."

"And probably weak from that impact."

Rolling his eyes, Shinichi allowed himself to be ushered out the door, then paused to wait as Kuroba locked tit behind them. "I wasn't even planning on using that shoulder." Or arm, really, his wrist was still hurting as well.

"Good, then stop arguing."

"Nothing I say will make a difference will it?"

Kuroba hummed an affirmative that made Shinichi sigh. As the pair of them walked down the street, Kuroba occasionally calling greetings to a few people he obviously knew– Shinichi was never surprised with how easily he got along with everyone. –the magician pulled a small notebook out of his pocket along with, to Shinichi's amusement what looked like a red marker. Peering curiously over his shoulder, Shinichi was able to read a few lines. They were a nearly indecipherable mess of Kanji, English, and a few other languages.

"I didn't know you knew Dutch."

"Kudou-kuuuun," Kuroba whined, pressing the small notebook to his chest until it was hidden against the loud, brightly colored logo on his shirt. "Don't you know it's impolite to look at a magician's secrets?"

Ignoring the wounded and betrayed look that was being directed at him, Shinichi shoved his hands into the pockets of the jeans he was wearing. The clothes were far more casual than he usually chose, but they were comfortable, so he wasn't going to complain. Not to mention they smelled like the detergent that Kuroba used. "That isn't anything secret and you know it. It's just a reminder that you need to go shopping again."

A pout formed on Kuroba's lips before he screwed his face up into a wounded look. "Why are you deciphering my notes anyway?"

"Why are you writing your notes so they need to be deciphered?"

"Touche, Tantei-kun, touche."

The mention of his old nickname made Shinichi freeze mid-step, and, for a moment, his brain was caught up in a crazy whirl of emotion and thought that made him want to physically sag against some solid surface so that he didn't have to hold himself up. Then, logic caught up with him, along with the fact that there was no way Kuroba could know that he had been Conan. After all Kid called him Meitantei-san these days, and, anyway, even if Kuroba _did_ know, he wouldn't be so stupid as to make his status as the Kaitou Kid so obvious.

"Kudou-kun?" Kuroba's voice called, a worried tinge tainting it.

Shinichi gave himself a slight shake trying to chase away the memories that had been conjured, because that was far gone now, so why worry about it? "It's nothing, I just thought I was forgetting something."

"If you're sure... I still think you should–" Kuroba was interrupted by the sound of his phone ringing. Slanting a look at Shinichi he fished it out. One glance at the display had him grumbling, and, to Shinichi's surprise, he tossed the phone to him. "It's Hakuba-kun. _You_ can deal with him."

Giving the magician a perplexed look as he skipped over to slump against the sign for the bus stop, Shinichi answered Kuroba's mobile and set it to his ear. "Moshi moshi."

There was a long pause, then Hakuba asked, _"Kudou-kun?"_ in a tentative voice. Shinichi couldn't blame them, the number of times Kuroba had changed his voice when he answered the phone was enough to make anyone careful. Though, Shinichi sometimes wondered about that...

"Yes. Kuroba-kun shoved his phone at me and told me to deal with you."

"Oi! Kudou-kun, don't be so mean!"

"_I see_," Hakuba deadpanned in his ear. _"I was just calling to see if you'd woken up yet, actually._"

"We're on our way in right now so I'll see you in class, Hakuba-kun."

"_I'll let you borrow my notes from our morning classes as well."_

"Thank you."

"Give me the phone," Kuroba piped up, beside him again.

Shinichi shot him a curious look."I thought you didn't want to talk to him."

"_What __**is**__that idiot doing now?"_

"Being childish."

"What did he say?"

"That you're an idiot."

"Hakuba-kun and Kudou-kun are very mean," Kuroba lamented. "Why am I friends with the two of you again?"

Shinichi shrugged, leaning away from Kuroba as he attempted to take the phone from him. "Do you want to deal with Kuroba-kun?"

"_I'm not sure, but I might as well see what he wants_."

Humming in agreement, because the alternative was a sulky Kuroba Kaito for the rest of the day followed by revenge on Hakuba for not talking to him, as well as revenge on Shinichi for not stopping Hakuba from hanging up... Well, it didn't really bear contemplating. Shinichi handed the phone back to its owner.

Ignoring the rapid fire conversation going on nearby, Shinichi allowed his posture to slump slightly and covered a yawn. If there was one thing he knew, he was very much looking forward to his bed tonight. He was _really_ tired.

–

Shinichi slumped down into a chair in the commons having just escaped a lecture on Morality and Crime that had left him, for some inexplicable reason, feeling absolutely exhausted both mentally and physically. Hakuba was sitting next to him, picking through his notebooks to find the notes for the classes Shinichi had missed. He, meanwhile, slid down in his seat and let his head fall to rest on the cool surface of the table with a slight thump. His eyes had that annoying gritty feeling, like when he'd stayed up way too late only to get up much too early the following morning. It felt insanely good just to let his muscles relax.

"Whatever class you two just took," he heard Kuroba's voice say suddenly. Cracking open an eye he watched the magician drop down into another chair at the table they were occupying. He had a can of tea, Shinichi couldn't see what flavor, clutched in one hand. "but I never want to take it if it can knock Kudou-kun out like this."

Shinichi snorted and thought about forcing himself to sit upright like a normal person. After a bit he decided he didn't care right now, and if anyone else did they could get back to him on it. Kuroba shifted to reach over Shinichi's head. He heard the echoing thump of something heavy landing on the table behind him, the impact enough to rattle his skull, but mostly ignorable. Kuroba slumped back in his seat then, scooting down in a boneless sprawl that made him look far more relaxed than Shinichi thought he had any right to be.

"I doubt you need any help delving into the innermost workings of the criminal mind, Kuroba-kun," Hakuba said drily.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kuroba asked mournfully, giving Hakuba a hang dog look; all big sad eyes and protruding lower lip.

Hakuba cleared his throat imperiously (Obviously expressing irritation with Kuroba's antics. Right.), and shuffled a few more papers before laying them down and sliding them across the table. Shinichi groaned, and began forcing himself to sit up, but before he could manage it, Kuroba reached over and snatched the sheaf of neatly piled papers up.

"Kuroba! What are you–"

"Bleah. You're so neurotic, Hakuba-kun!" the magician complained waving the papers. He had to lean away and hold them out when the Half-Brit attempted to snatch them back.

Reaching over Shinichi tugged the papers from Kuroba's grip and set them back on the table, absently smoothing out a few creases the magician's grip had left. "Thank you, Hakuba-kun."

The blond sent Kuroba a dull glare, before nodding faintly. "You're welcome Kudou-kun."

"Hey, Hakuba-kun." The other detective turned toward Kuroba while Shinichi leaned over to fish a notebook and pencil out of his bag. Flipping open to a new page he began to idly copy down Hakuba's precise notes. "I was talking to Kudou-kun about this earlier, but sometime would you like to come to one of my shows? They want to schedule me at the venue I worked last night." Before Hakuba could say a word, Kuroba held a hand up in perfectly timed, theatrical manner. "If you do come you have to promise not to deduce my tricks. You've got to let go and have fun~!"

"I... That could be interesting," Hakuba admitted, sounding almost begrudging, as if the idea of being forced to have _fun_ was absolutely intolerable.

"You don't have to make it sound like such a chore." Despite the whine, Shinichi could tell the magician was just teasing the stoic blond. Glancing up he found Hakuba rolling his eyes in exasperation while Kuroba grinned cheekily at him.

Shaking his head slightly at the pair, Shinichi propped his elbow on the table and rested his head on his hand. Writing with his sore wrist wasn't easy, but the brace kept it immobile enough that he wasn't in pain either. Focusing on copying the notes, since his brain was scattered enough at the moment that it was making it hard to even remember what he was reading as he wrote it down without listening to the pair of them, Shinichi wrestled his mind back on task.

Idly turning a paper over once he'd finish with it, Hakuba only wrote on one side, he continued onward mowing through the notes even as his mind continued to drift somewhere else. Once he'd fallen into the rhythm of reading and writing to the exclusion of all ambient distractions it was easy enough to turn his mind elsewhere.

Like the lecture he'd just gotten out of. He wasn't altogether sure why it had effected him so much, left him feeling drained, but it had. Maybe it was because of his time spent as Conan. How he knew that everything wasn't quite as cut and dry as many people seemed to think. He'd had the question posed to him so many times when he'd been stuck as Conan: How far could he go, how far would his morals allow him to go, and would he know when he'd gone too far?

There were times when he'd been so deep into things that when he'd realized the stuff he was doing he'd been scared he was loosing himself. When it came down to it, when you were pushed into things, it wasn't always easy to recognize you were stepping beyond your initial moralities. In the end, some human instincts drive you farther, push you harder, than you can ever guess until that situation arises.

Shinichi well knew how far he'd go when cornered, how hard he'd fight to protect, and that knowledge still scared him.

Very few people could understand that, or even dared to acknowledge that side of themselves. Perhaps the only person Shinichi knew who did, aside from Haibara Ai, was...

Lifting his head Shinichi looked at Kuroba as the other man grinned wickedly at Hakuba. The half-Brit was looking more than a little annoyed as he lectured Kuroba on just _why_ he shouldn't use magic tricks to switch all the things in their bags around. Not like it wasn't the first time the magician had done it. Flipping back several pages in his notebook, Shinichi found that he'd been writing in his own at least. Well, that was good. Either Kuroba was feeling benevolent today, or he'd gotten lucky.

"Kudou-kun doesn't care."

Blinking blankly at the sound of his name, Shinichi furrowed his brows as he tried to figure out where he belonged in this conversation. "I don't care about what?"

Two pairs of eyes, one blue-violet and the other cinnamon colored, sent him odd looks before Kuroba finally said, "That I switched around the stuff in our bags."

Oh, right, that. "I hadn't even noticed."

Hakuba's lips pursed slightly, a frown drawing his brows together sharply while Kuroba looked surprised before putting on an expression like someone had just taken his favorite toy away. "How could you not notice?" he whined.

"Kudou-kun?" Hakuba's voice was flat, questioning, and curious. It reminded him of the night before when he'd been concerned. "Are you sure everything is alright? If you hit your head hard enough to cause this level of disorientation..."

"Like I said, I didn't. My head doesn't even hurt, and I've not had a headache or anything." Though, despite what he'd said he probably wasn't as okay as he thought. Looking down at the kanji he'd neatly penned on the star, lined sheets of paper, the strokes of each character almost seemed like they were moving. Shinichi had to blink a few times to make sure it was just his mind tricking him. "I think I'm just really tired," he admitted at last.

Pressure against his forehead made him tilt his head back until he found himself staring at a deadpan Kuroba Kaito. The magician's eyes were half lidded, a sort of look that made him feel like he was looking in a mirror more than ever. The surreal feeling, the one that came with being overly tired, that had settled around him didn't help either. Crossing his eyes slightly, Shinichi tried valiantly to stare at the hand in front of his face, two fingers of which had been used to push his head up., then finally he decided to just focus on Kuroba who was half sprawled over the table.

"Kudou-kun," Kuroba said slowly. "If you're this tired you should really go home and get some more sleep. No one's going to blame you. Iiiiidiooot. You aren't super human!"

"Ha ha... Thanks for that notification, Kuroba-kun."

"You always act like you are."

Shinichi wanted to tell him that he knew very well he wasn't super human, that he was far from it and that he'd had that fact proven to him quite thoroughly, but couldn't find the words or the will to say them. Hakuba reached up, pulling Kuroba's hand away and gave him a glance that seemed to read him from the inside and out. "We just don't want you to hurt yourself, Kudou-kun. You'll do yourself no favors by allowing yourself to completely burn out."

"I..." That nagging thought was back, sitting like a self important gargoyle at the edge of his mind and waiting patiently for him to acknowledge it. He seemed to increase the more he looked between the two and took in their expectant expressions.

"If it's about missing another class you really shouldn't worry about. I mean Hakuba-kun can get you notes, and it's not like you aren't smart enough to catch up. Hell, if it matters that much I'll go _for_ you." As he spoke, Kuroba reached up and smoothed his hair back, neatening it into an exact replica of Shinichi's controlled hairstyle. He ended the effort by sucking on his finger a moment then twirling it in the hair at the crown of his head to create a copy of Shinichi's cowlick.

Shinichi blinked, and his doppelganger mirrored him perfectly. A slight tilt of the head, and Kuroba did the exact same thing with only a minor, almost unnoticeable, delay. "That is completely unnecessary," Hakuba drawled pointedly, though Kuroba seemed content to ignore him.

"It's fine, I'll just copy Hakuba-kun's notes so long as he doesn't mind, but... I think I will go home." If only because he had other things plaguing his mind right then and wasn't sure he could stand the rest of the day. Murmuring a soft farewell, Shinichi gathered up his things, tucked them back into his own school bag, and made to leave the table.

"Kudou-kun?" Hakuba called, causing him to pause for a moment. "Are you sure you don't want me to call Baaya? I'm sure she'd be willing to come and take you home."

"No thank you, Hakuba-kun. I'll be fine."

"Try not to trip over any crime scenes," Kuroba teased, absently messing his hair back up.

Shinichi gave a final, wry, smile and turned away. The entire way out of the room, he could feel their eyes on him quizzical, and feeling as if they were dissecting him down to his very core.

–

In reality, Shinichi didn't go straight home. In fact he ended up in the park nearby his neighborhood, the one that the Shounen Tantei had always dragged him to as Conan, and spent his time thinking while he basked in the sunlight. The ambient sounds of the city, as well as the quiet rustle of the wind in the trees here, had served to calm his nerves a little, and he had, more or less, settled into a slight doze on the bench he'd claimed.

"Who were you with last night?"

Blinking his eyes open at the question, Shinichi found Haibara sitting placidly on the bench next to him. He had no idea when she'd gotten there or _why _she was there. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

The blond girl sent him a bland look that seemed to inform he was extremely dimwitted and she was oh so disappointed to learn this. "School is over, Kudou-kun. Come on, you can walk me home." Shinichi snorted, because she really did make that sound like some sort of privilege, or an order. He took his time getting up, just to try and annoy her a bit. If it did, though, she didn't show it, a fact that didn't surprise him at all. Instead Ai simply stood up and absently dusted her skirt off. "So, Kudou-kun, who were you with last night?"

He could have taken offense at her asking that, but they'd been friends through too much for him to really be bothered by her apparent attempt to pry, instead he merely asked, "What makes you think I was 'with someone' last night."

"While the others might have lost interest in playing detective, I still indulge on occasion."

The reminder made something in his chest ache, before he forced it away. They had just been, and still were, children after all, it was hardly surprising that, once Conan and the excitement had left, they would lose interest and move on. In some ways he was glad they had, he didn't want any of them ending up like him, in others... Well, it twisted the knife deeper and made him feel as if he were being forgotten by everyone.

"You're being awfully blunt today," he noted absently, taking his mind off the thought by fiddling with the strap of his school bag. It felt awkward having it sitting on this shoulder like it was.

"I'm just a capricious child," she retorted without missing a beat. "I haven't learned tact yet."

_That_ really did make him laugh, and he caught the tiny smile on the girl's face. It was amusing as ever, her odd attempts to cheer him up. "For your information, Haibara-chan, I merely stayed the night at Kuroba-kun's last night after that hostage situation was resolved."

"I see..." she murmured.

Silence fell between them, the comfortable kind that appeared between long time friends who had little or no secrets between them. It made Shinichi relax minutely. As they turned the corner onto their street, Shinichi let his eyes wander over the familiar sight of the Kudou manor, and the professor's house. "How's he doing lately anyway? I haven't seen him in awhile..."

"He's locked himself up to work on a new invention," she sighed. "I'm going to force him out tonight if you want to stop by and join us for dinner."

"You just want me to help you drag him away from his work," Shinichi deadpanned.

"Yes, but I also want to make sure you get a decent meal this week."

"Why is everyone mothering me lately?" he complained, shoulders slumping.

Haibara turned to look up at him, one hand resting on the gate to the Professor's house. There was a stern, yet amused look on her face. Then a slight smile broke all the stoicism, and she informed him, very matter of fact, "Because someone needs to, Kudou-kun. We all know you can't look after yourself."

"That's not true and you know it," he grumbled. "I've been taking care of myself for years."

The girl snorted, half derision and half honest disbelief. "Denial will get you nowhere." Turning away she opened the gate, pausing just beyond once it had closed, and turned to look at him with such a serious look on her face that made him feel like he was Conan again; like they were about to have some conversation about the dangers of the Black Organization. "They ask about you still, you know, from time to time. They want to know if you're happy and doing okay."

Confused and unsure where she was going with this, he merely answered with a noncommittal, "Oh?"

Turning away again the girl headed toward the door speaking as she went, "I tell them that you are. I don't like lying to them, Kudou-kun. So, make sure to make this the truth soon, okay?"

She left him standing there, feeling perplexed beyond belief. He didn't know what she was talking about, after all, he was doing just fine wasn't he? He was living, moving on with his life... right?

Shinichi drew his hand up, running it down his face wearily. He headed next door, to his own home, pausing to look back only once. He wasn't exactly sure what to make of that conversation, but... Shaking his head he opened the gates, let them close behind him, and headed up the short walk to the front door. What he did know was that he _had_ figured things out, at least a little.

He knew exactly what he needed to do now, though perhaps a little more observation of his 'suspect' was necessary before he made his deduction. Smiling faintly he made his way inside, pausing only to kick his shoes off as he shut the door behind himself, then headed toward the silent sitting room.

Dropping his bag on one of the chairs he settled himself on the couch. Twisting and arching his hips slightly to dig his cellphone out of his pocket, he deposited it on the nearby table alongside his keys.

The heist would be the perfect opportunity to observe his 'suspect' and then, if all went well, he would approach him afterward and ask him to meet him. After that... He just had to give him the proof, and convince him he was right. Shinichi curled onto his side and tucked his arms under his head. Though the couch was rather uncomfortable, he was asleep seconds later a faint smirk on his face at the prospects of his plan being set in motion.

* * *

**A/N:** Gah, Fanfiction keeps eating part of a sentence in this chapter so if something reads weird that's probably why. -grumbles.


	2. Part 2

**A/N: **Ho ho ho. Merry Christmas.

* * *

**Part 2**

* * *

The low buzz of the electronic equipment hummed in Saguru's ears, as did the low constant of radio chatter. The time for preparations had long since passed, leaving them as ready as they could ever be for Kid's arrival. He often felt more as if he were a host who ran about like a chicken that had lost its head while they set up for their esteemed guest's arrival, than a detective trying to stop a tricky criminal. The very thought made him snort indignantly. That would be just like the blasted thief: to have them so wrapped around his gloved finger that they were jumping at his every command.

Saguru let his lidded gaze drift slowly over the monitors before him. The electric lights above were almost bright enough to make his head ache if the faint pressure behind his eyes was anything to go by. He tried to remember if he'd brought any migraine medication with him.

He turned his head slightly, and scanned the surveillance room with the with his usual slow deliberateness. No one was out of place: Every head was bent over their station, intent on their work, and, though there were occasional words exchanged, it was mostly silent and expectant. The scattering of coffee cups and cans among the thick, impromptu tangle of wires didn't seem to bother anyone. Takeshi, listening to the back and forth over the radio, was absently clicking together a set of plain wooden chopsticks that he'd used earlier to devour his dinner.

They had been here for hours already. It seemed like the longer Kid was in action, the harder they had to work to set up for him. A particularly violent crackle of static sounded, washing out the monotone of all clear reports before Nakamori's gruff tones sounded dourly through,_ "Five minutes to arrival. You had all better be in position or so __**help me**_–"

Saguru's lips twitched in a barely controlled smile. No matter how long he was on the case, Nakamori-keibu never lost his vigor when it came to his pursuit of Kid. Saguru didn't want to admit that, sometimes, it gave him an unpleasant feeling to imagine Kid being _caught_. He still didn't know when he'd crossed that line, when he'd let himself become _attached_ to Kuroba Kaito, all he knew was that there was no backing out of it now.

He'd crossed the line, and gone far beyond it. It was a bit of of relief, as much as it was an annoyance, to know he wasn't alone in that. It made him feel less like he was betraying everyone, in a way.

The thought made him glance over and down toward the monitor in lower right corner of the set up. In the slightly grainy color feed he could see Kudou standing there, near a cream colored wall, his hands tucked into his pockets. Kudou lifted his hand to check his watch, then turned and walked off the bottom of the screen. If Saguru remembered correctly he would be arriving in this room in a few seconds.

As if perfectly timed the door behind him clicked open. Irrationally, Saguru wondered if Kudou had done that on purpose. Sometimes, the similarities between Kudou and Kuroba unnerved him a great deal. Still, Kudou was nothing like he'd been expecting when they'd first met. He could admit he had been expecting some sort of smug arrogance, much like he, himself, had been before Kuroba had drilled humility into him via pranks and failure.

The quiet, lost young man he had ended up befriending was none of that. In fact, he would go so far as to say Kudou was _insecure_.

"Good evening, Kudou-kun," he heard one of the men behind him say. Though most of the task force tended to treat the other detective as an outsider, something that both vindicated and aggravated Saguru, a few of them were friendly with him. After all it had taken him years to get where he was with them, but, at the same time, some part of him had, since he had begun to work with Kudou, thought the treatment a little onerous for some reason.

Once Kudou finished murmuring his own greetings, Saguru could hear the faint squeak of one of the stools that littered the room. Finally, he turned around to get a look at the other man. Kudou was just settling onto the stool, one hand gripped the edge of the seat between his spread knees, while the other rested over his thigh. The dark color of the wrist brace he still wore meshed easily with the thin material of the long sleeved shirt he had on. Kudou lifted his head then, his heels hooked on the low bar that ran all the way around the stool's legs close to the floor, and caught him staring. The other detective merely looked back at Saguru with that usual, quietly serious look that never seemed to leave his face. There was a sparkle of consideration, and humor, in his gaze that Saguru had never seen before.

Irrationally, the fact made a surge of embarrassment slither up from somewhere. He choked it back down, and turned away again. When he thought he heard a low chuckle, Saguru's shoulders stiffened. It took everything in him not to turn around, and check to see if Kudou was Kid in disguise even though he already knew that was not Kuroba. Saguru spent too much time with him that he wasn't fooled by Kuroba when he tried to disguise himself as Kudou anymore. All the same, the sight of Kudou right then, far more alert than he'd seen him in _weeks_, had made something in him settle that he hadn't even realized had been agitated.

"Hakuba-san? On external camera fifteen... You ought to have a look at this."

Stepping up behind the man who'd been speaking, Saguru leaned forward slightly, and stared at the screen. There, plain as day, was their white clad nuisance. Kid was dangling outside one of the buildings windows, his white loafers were braced against the wall to either side of the window to keep himself steady, and the long folds of his cape swaying with his every movement. It almost looked as if he were floating, suspended only by his feet, magically stuck to the wall. Saguru wasn't fooled though, he knew it was merely the video feed that did that. There was, no doubt, one of those deceptively thin and strong wire filament threads holding him there.

Within moments the thief had the window open. Kid bent his knees, bounced off the wall once or twice in very small increments before giving a final shove that sent him out away from the building. The thief brought his legs together as he swung back toward the window. He slipped easily through the opening, not even knocking his damnable top hat askew. A moment later Kid leaned back out, and gave a tug on his monofilament drop cord, which he then wound into his hands.

"What camera is in the room he entered?"

"Internal camera twelve. This one here."

Saguru turned his attention toward the screen displaying the feed from camera twelve where he watched the thief twist back into the room. Kid gripped his lapel, and pulled his suit jacket out enough to tuck the coiled length of monofilament into one of his pockets. The thief's head turned slowly to take in the room in all its taupe colored glory. It wasn't much, just an office, and from the camera's view Saguru could make out a neat desk, the ink blotter meticulously centered, and a thin stack of forms on it, upside down. The in and out trays on one corner were just as neat, and the slim computer monitor on the other corner was simple and black. It was all very uniform and proper: The picture of an industrious corporate worker, though it said nothing else about the person.

The view was cut off suddenly as the entire camera's screen was filled with Kid's hat, then his shadowed face. His wide taunting grin was perfectly in place. Saguru had to muffle the knee jerk reaction to that mocking look: a strange mixture of annoyance and anticipation.

Kid stepped back until they could see most of him again. Behind Saguru, Takeshi was busy sending squads toward the room Kid was in. The static of radio chatter was getting louder now that the heist was in motion. On screen, Kid slid a thumb beneath the knot of his tie, then gripped the tie itself in his other hand. He gave it a few tugs and adjustments until it was settled to whatever standard the thief had set, looked directly at the camera again, and tipped his hat at them. As the thief whirled away, smoke billowed up to obscure the camera's view of the room.

Cheeky bastard.

Saguru turned on his heel, intent on marching out of the room to go and look for Kid. As he passed Kudou he noticed that the dark haired man hadn't so much as moved, in fact he was still fixated on the surveillance screens. Saguru glanced back, wondering if he had missed something, but found them much the same: Just the slowly dissipating cloud of smoke on camera twelve.

Kudou blinked, then, and the formerly unnerving quality of his gaze that always reminded Saguru of a sort of madness that was, somehow, scarier than Kaitou Kid's brand, softened into amusement. "No big entrances today, Kaitou Kid-san?" Kudou murmured. He leaned back, and half turned, to snatch the radio from Takeshi's grip. Pressing down on the button, Kudou spoke into it, "Squads F and H to the roof on the east side, Squads D and G, report to the grounds on the east side. Squad B and I, sweep the west corridors of the building for anything suspicious." Squads A, C, and E, of course, were already in lucrative positions.

And, while they might treat Kudou as something of an outsider, when it counted the most they listened to him. A chorus of affirmatives greeted his instructions, followed by a slew of Nakamori's snarls as he insisted that _he_ was the one giving the orders here. Kudou wasn't listening though, he'd merely tossed the handset back to Takeshi, who fumbled, and nearly dropped it.

As always Kudou's sudden change from a quiet background figure, to a man perfectly in control seemed to unnerve and throw everyone off. Saguru had learned to take it in stride. He figured his time spent with Kuroba probably helped.

"Kudou-kun?"

The dark haired man craned around to face him, an enigmatic half smiled on his face. "You know just as well as I do that he's taunting and distracting us... But, from what, I wonder?"

Saguru nodded sharply in agreement. "I'll be going then."

He turned on his heel, and stalked to the door. As it closed behind him he heard Takeshi asking, "Not going to join the chase, Kudou-kun?" Saguru paused, the door held slightly open. This...wasn't normal.

"No, it's probably best I keep out of the way for the most part tonight. I doubt I'd be much help with my arm and shoulder like this." He found himself torn between wondering what sort of plan Kudou had cooked up, and storming back in there to ask what was _wrong_ with him. This was so completely _different_ from Kudou's usual behavior that it had Saguru completely off kilter. "If something comes up, and I have to take care of it, I'll go, but for now... I think I'll be the most use here."

Saguru pulled his pocket watch out, and flipped open the lid. His eyes took in the roman numerals on the face at a glance, then studied the smaller faces that calculated precise time. The watch closed again with a snap as he set off down the hall. While he walked, Saguru reached down and fiddled with the dials on the radio that hung from his belt until he could hear the quiet sounds of reports being shot back and forth.

If he hurried he could make it to the room Kid had entered by, and hopefully figure out what he was up to before it was too late.

"_We found where the wire was connected, and have removed and disabled all traps around it."_

"_Good,"_ Kudou's voice responded. _"Check the rest of the roof for any other set ups, then stand guard up there. He's not leaving that way tonight."_

"_If we see any white top hats, we'll take them out,"_ came the joking response, backed by some good humored laughter.

Saguru could well imagine the look on Kudou's face. He had a quiet way of showing amusement that appeared in the faint crinkling at the corners of his eyes, and the slight upturn of his lips in a barely there smile. From there his mind easily tracked to Kuroba's much more apparent types of cheerfulness: A wide grin, and mischievous eyes. After that it was easy enough to add the top hat and monocle, then sharpen the grin into a smirk.

He snorted, brushed away the images of the frustrating duo, and turned into the hall just as an explosion of sound and chatter began, _"Whoa! There's–" _the radio fizzled off in a crackle of static. Saguru sighed heavily as popping and hissing sounds transmitted through, then silence.

Several seconds passed, then Kudou's voice asked, _"Squad B, respond." _The radio crackled for several seconds, nothing but white noise. _"Squad B, please respond._"

Then, just as Saguru was sure Kudou was going to issue an order to have them checked on, the radio gave a final pop and the leader of Squad B's voice sounded, _"Ugh. We're covered in some sort of slime. I can barely keep hold of the radio._"

"_Slime?"_ Kudou's bemused voice queried. Saguru could hear a hint of laughter in his tone. A second after that Nakamori cut across with, _"What the hell happened?!"_

"_Erk. Sorry, sir. The newbie set off a knock out gas trap, and got a face full. When he went down he triggered–"_

Saguru tuned the rest of the sentence out as he reached the floor Kid had entered on. He wasn't even a bit out of breath from the jog up the stairs, either. Personally, he put it down to being too used to it to let himself get even slightly out of shape. He slowed his pace as he approached the pair of task force members guarding entry the near end of the hall, two more were at the far end, and, even as he approached, two other squad members stepped out of the room Kid had entered through.

"Hakuba-san," one of the nearer task force members greeted. "We checked the entire floor, and never saw Kid coming down the stairs."

Except, Saguru didn't believe that, for a moment, Kid wasn't still here somewhere. "I'm going to inspect the room. Don't leave until I come out, then we can proceed back to the jewel room and report to Nakamori-keibu together."

Without waiting for an answer, but knowing they'd wait, if only to make him face the irritable Keibu for them, Saguru headed to the room and stepped in. He walked straight across to the window to examine Kid's point of entry.

"_Hakuba-kun,"_ Kudou's voice spoke from the radio at his waist. _"After the smoke cleared we didn't see anything out of the ordinary._"

Which could mean any number of things, depending on what Kudou really meant with that sentence. If they were working a case together, where Kudou didn't want their plotting to be overheard, and he meant that only in the literal way, as in they hadn't _seen_ anything, and that was making him suspicious. Or, he'd seen something but couldn't say, and Saguru needed to read between the lines.

But, this was a Kid heist where they were more rival than partner. They'd both done things to throw each other off the trail, and, instead, chosen to tangle with the thief on their own. While he hesitated in making a decision, Saguru stood up and prowled around the desk, glanced beneath it, then moved back toward the door. Nothing _seemed_ out of place... He looked up, checking over the ceiling, but saw nothing there either.

"_You should return to the jewel room,"_ Kudou said, _"and report to Nakamori-keibu._"

Saguru paused again, knowing he was out of sight of the camera. That... Kudou had phrased that oddly. He wasn't one to bother with the Keibu, simply because Nakamori had little or no respect for him. Kudou, of course, returned the treatment in kind, and tended to lone wolf things. Not to mention his habit with taking over the heists. Sometimes Saguru wondered if Kudou had dissociative identity disorder or something. Kudou was almost as much of a mystery as Kuroba was, and maybe that's why he had approached him when he met him face to face that first time.

Saguru pulled his radio from his belt, and pressed the button down to reply, "I'm on my way there now, Kudou-kun."

Radio still in hand, Saguru stepped back out into the hall and motioned the task force squad to follow him. As they trooped back down the stairs, Saguru remained silent though the members of the squad were exchanging a few, rather crud, jokes in low tones.

He didn't understand what was going on. This wasn't like Kudou at all, and Saguru was finding that this abrupt change had him completely off kilter. Kudou was supposed to be here, beside him, looking at the scene just as he was. The fact that he was, instead, sitting on the sidelines was more distraction than Saguru really needed right now. For once, his mind wasn't totally on Kid, and how he could come the closest to capturing the thief, how he could get Kid's attention on him this time. Instead he was worrying about Kudou, and it wasn't at all in a rivalry sort of way. More, Saguru wanted to seek Kudou out and make sure that he.. What?

That he hadn't given up? Because wasn't that what he _wanted_?

That didn't ring at all true. Somehow, the idea of Kudou backing off... He didn't want to say scared it him, but it made something in the vicinity of his chest twinge. Kudou was already enough like a kicked and abandoned puppy that he and Kuroba and picked up on the side of the road as it was.

Saguru sighed, and passed his hand over his face even as he absently clipped the radio back onto his belt. At this rate Kid was already going to win tonight's game. He seemed to have completely slipped the radar this time. Saguru seethed faintly at the idea of being outsmarted by the thief: He might not always come out on top of the heists, but usually he could see through all of his tricks. This time he was just feeling confused on all fronts.

Saguru paused outside the jewel room, and let the tension leave him. The placid cool he usually kept flooded back in, then he stepped through the double doors into the jewel room. Immediately he had to blink, and, even after that, he kept his eyes lidded to protect them from the onslaught of light. The room was brilliantly lit with bright white light that reflected off the multifaceted surfaces of the jewels littering it. All of them were set in gold and silver costume jewelry. Apparently Hamamoto-san's wife was very fond of hosting costly theme parties.

Nakamori stood across the room in front of a particular wall of necklaces and collars, his focus entirely on tonight's target as if that would stop Kid from making a move on it. Saguru bit back a sigh. He really didn't want to deal with this right now. Nakamori, for all his skills in chasing Kid, could be immensely frustrating to work with, stubborn man that he was.

Beside Nakamori stood Hamamoto-san himself: He was a small, round man with a rather weak disposition. It hadn't even taken Nakamori an hour to bully the man into keeping things quiet. Luckily for them, Hamamoto-san's wife, a real shrew of a woman, was away in Australia attending some function or another, and didn't even know her home was to be visited by the illustrious thief.

Saguru stopped on Nakamori's other side, with two of the task force member's hovering a short distance behind him, and cast a glance at tonight's target. It was a large _usekh_ collar made of gold, pearl, and jade beads with four egg sized mystic fire topazes inlaid across the outer edge. They had been shaped to look like scarabs.

It was a reminder of how Kid's pattern had changed again a few years ago. Kid no longer focused heavily on jewels, but, like when he'd first made his reappearance, tended to go after a majority of things. Mostly, it just seemed to be whatever caught his fancy, or presented the greatest challenge at the time. Whatever Kid's goal had been before, Saguru was pretty sure the thief was just doing this for fun now. He still never kept anything he took, though.

"Nakamori-keibu?"

A grunt was the only reply he got.

"We were unable to find any trace of where Kid has gone, I'm afraid."

Hamamoto-san mopped at his bald pate with his handkerchief, and shifted nervously. "Then how are you going to keep this... this _criminal_ from stealing my wife's necklace?" he asked in his reedy voice.

Saguru grit his teeth and fought back the urge to lambaste the man for all he was worth. He said the word criminal as if Kid were _simply_ a common criminal, and he wasn't. Even when Saguru put aside his personal feelings on the matter, Kaitou Kid could _not_ be classified as a something so mundane as _common_. This fool would like to believe Kid was nothing more than your average sneak thief, or burglar, for the sake of his own nerves. In a way, Saguru pitied him.

Nakamori turned toward the man, and, of course, that was when it happened. With a sudden hiss billows of white smoke filled the air, obscuring Saguru's vision. Nakamori, nearby, was nothing more than an obscure shadow. Something brushed against his other side, and Saguru immediately turned toward it, reached out, and felt fabric slide through his fingers. It was easy to identify it as the semi-heavy material of Kid's cape after all the other times he'd been so close. He swallowed a slew of curse words, and ground his teeth together.

He listened, hard, and it wasn't long before he heard the faint sound of metal striking metal. Immediately, Saguru lunged blindly in that direction, and prayed he didn't run into anyone. He nearly did, but was fast enough to swerve around them, though could hear them cursing behind him. It sounded like Nakamori, actually. He broke out of the smoke cloud's circumference to see Kid on the other side of the jewel room. The thief was holding the _usekh_ collar up to the harsh lights to watch the light sparkle off the multi-hued scarabs.

"Kid!"

The thief turned at the sound of his voice, and the small, pleased, smile on his face immediately widened into a flagrantly mocking grin. "Tantei-san," he crooned. "Thank you for the escort, it is very appreciated!" Almost as fast as Kid had grinned, the grin transformed into a pouting frown. "Do tell Meitantei-san, something for me, would you? Tell him that if he's too injured to play, perhaps he should just stay home instead, hmm? After all, it's not fair if he's just going to sit on the sidelines!"

"I would not worry about him too much," Saguru retorted, letting a hint of challenge slide into his voice. "I can corner you just fine on my own, after all."

Kid laughed, his grin turning positively feral. "Catch me if you can, Tantei-san!"

Then he shook something out of his sleeve, and pressed a button on it even as he turned to take off down the nearby hall. The lights went out in the next second, plunging them into darkness, which might not have been a problem if things hadn't been so bright before. Saguru's eyes couldn't adjust to the darkness fast enough.

Saguru darted after the thief, one hand held out in front of himself just in case– He could remember the room to a point, and just hoped he would run into anything. –while he fumbled his radio into his other hand. "Kudou-kun, he's making his way toward the west exit!"

"_Sorry, Hakuba-kun, but Kudou-kun left right after Kid got the necklace_."

_What?_

What the hell was Kudou even _playing_ at? "What about Squad B?"

"_Stuck better than we would be with glue,_" someone reported miserably. _"This slime stuff hardened up a bit. It won't let go._"

"And Squad I?"

"_Sorry, we were helping Squad B and got stuck too."_

God damn him. Saguru swore he was going to make Kuroba's life a living hell the next few days, if only out of sheer irritation. Kudou's too, at this rate. It was one thing to have a bit of a rivalry, it was one thing to sit the heist out, but it was another altogether to suddenly up and disappear. They got enough of that from Kid, thank you very much.

Then the lights flickered back on with a low hum, just in time for him to spot the taupe colored wall he was about to run into. Saguru skidded to a halt, and turned toward the nearby industrial steel doors. He shoved them open, and stepped out into the sounds of the city. Streetlamps glowed nearby, showing nothing but an empty back street littered with the dark facade of other buildings on the far side of the road. Saguru glanced up and down the road, wondered if he ought to just give up and call it a loss, then he spotted a dark clothed figure walking placidly down the sidewalk on the far side.

They didn't seem like they were up to no good, could have been any passer by, but...He'd bet money that it was Kid. He darted for him, smirk sharp and triumphant. "Must really gal you not to have a crowd to disappear into, doesn't it Kaitou Kid?" he asked, reaching out for the thief's shoulder. Kid ducked down, and leaned back to shoulder him in the chest. The blow was hard enough to knock his breath from his lungs, and to send him stumbling back. Saguru fell to the pavement with a snarl. The radio he still held dropped from his hand to hit the cement with a sharp retort. He ignored it.

Kid darted down the street, shot a grin over his shoulder, then disappeared down a narrow alleyway between two of the smaller buildings. Saguru shoved himself to his feet, and gave chase without hesitation.

The narrow alleyway was dark, almost pitch black, and lit mostly by ambient city glow, but that was fine. His eyes had adjusted to the lack of light by now. Ahead of him he could just see Kid's dark figure flitting through the shadows. Saguru lengthened his strides. Kid slid around the corner of a building, and into the narrow space between it and its neighbor. When he came to the turn Saguru pulled up short, breathing heavily from the sprint. Kid had vanished, or so it seemed.

"My, my, aren't we persistent tonight, Tantei-san?"

The voice had come from above him. Saguru looked up to find the thief perched primly on the railing of the fire escape attached to the side of the left building. His hands rested either side of his hips, white gloves still on to prevent fingerprints from being left, but he was, otherwise, still dressed in a dark jacket, simple jeans, and a black baseball cap that was pulled low over his eyes. His legs dangled as if the drop were negligible. To him, it probably was.

That damnable grin was still there in all its glory.

"You expect me to be anything less?" Saguru retorted, his own smirk sliding into place. "Are you ready to answer my question, Kaitou Kid?"

Kid released the railing with one hand, and brought his hand up to rest at his chin in a mockingly thoughtful pose. "No, I don't think I will. That's for–"

"Us detectives to figure out." The words cut Kid off, and Saguru found himself looking up even farther. Even Kid twisted around in surprise to look upward. Kudou looked down at them, perfectly placid, as he leaned his crossed arms on the railing at the very top of the fire escape. His focus, at the moment, seemed to be on Saguru. He leaned out a little further, and glanced at Kid. "Isn't that right, Kaitou Kid-san?"

When Kid released the railing fully to clap, he didn't lose even a modicum of balance. "Very good, Meitantei-san. But, now I do believe this game is at its end. Catch!" Kid pulled the _usekh_ collar, carefully contained in a plastic bag, from the inside of his jacket, and tossed it upward toward Kudou. Kudou leaned out, and reached for it, as Kid hopped to his feet, then jumped across the distance above Saguru's head.

Saguru had a moment of breathlessness, despite knowing Kid knew what he was doing, before the thief caught nimbly on the tiny ledge of a window. The thief climbed upward, like some sort of monkey, and easily used tiny ledges no sane man would even bother to attempt to use, then disappeared around the edge of the building. The next time Saguru saw him, he was back in his white uniform. Kid tipped his hat cheekily across the gap at Kudou, and waved down at him.

Then he was jumping off the slightly taller building, and gliding across the street to a shorter one. It didn't take him long to disappear. Saguru was sure they could have followed him, but he would have lost them within a few blocks. They'd tried before.

The game always ended when Kid decided that he was done playing.

Slowly, Saguru looked back up at Shinichi. He was holding the _usekh_ collar in one hand, letting it dangle over the drop, while he looked after Kid. Then he gave a philosophical shrug, and turned his gaze back down at Saguru. "I'll be down in a moment."

Saguru gave a sharp nod, and stood waiting as Kudou made his way down the fire escape. "How did you get up there, anyway?"

"The same way Kid did, I expect," Kudou retorted in amusement. When he reached the ladder at the very last level, he tossed the _usekh_ collar down to Saguru, then climbed down carefully. He was favoring his wrist more than he had been earlier, so the activity must have put a bit of strain on it. "I climbed up."

Kudou wobbled a bit when he dropped down from the ladder. Saguru reached out automatically to steady him, hand wrapping securely around Kudou's bicep. He found himself frozen to the spot, speared by Kudou's sharp gaze, which seemed completely different than usual. Saguru couldn't say exactly how, and that bothered him more than a little. It was familiar in a way he couldn't quite place. Then he smiled, a small smile that made something in him give an odd shift.

"Kudou-kun..." he started, and realized he didn't know what he was going to say.

"Come on, let's go help with clean up and return the lady's..." Kudou's voice trailed off, and he gestured helplessly at the _usekh_ collar as if he didn't know quite what to call it.

"_Usekh_ collar," Saguru supplied, glad for something to focus on that he understood.

"Let's go with that."

Kudou stepped passed him, and Saguru thought he felt a light touch on his shoulder, but he couldn't be sure. Why should he have anyway?

"Kudou-kun?"

He paused, half turning to look back at him with curiosity open on his face. "Yes?"

"How did you know Kid would stop here?"

A slow smile spread across Kudou's face, as enigmatic as anything Saguru had ever seen Kid give, and maybe a bit more so. There was always something infinitely dark about Kudou, as if he'd been touched by something, maybe death, far more than any normal man could ever imagine. It made Saguru's skin crawl, at the same time it made him gravitate toward Kudou. Somehow, the feeling was similar to the one that kept him pursuing Kid.

"Kid isn't always as tricky as he thinks he is," Kudou said quietly. He lifted his hand, and, for a moment, Saguru thought he was gesturing for silence. Instead, he was pointing up. Saguru looked up, up to the building Kid had just scaled not but minutes before. From this angle he could make out small grooves where Kid had obvious stuck things to aid as hand holds at an earlier time. Kid had probably removed them as he climbed this time around.

"Ah." Saguru shook his head and turned away to fall in step with Kudou as the other detective moved on.

The pair of them walked through the shadowy alleyways side by side, and Saguru couldn't help but notice that he was the only one that was tense. Kudou had a faint smile on his face, as if he didn't have anything to worry about. His hands were shoved carelessly in his pockets to complete the relaxed posture. In fact, Saguru would go so far as to say that this was the most relaxed he had ever really seen him. What in the world could have happened that had changed Kudou so drastically?

When they reached the street outside of the Hamamoto building, Saguru stopped to retrieve his radio. He hoped it wasn't broken... It spat static, reporting a few broken statements. He lifted it up, and attempted to contact the central command, "Kid's made his escape. He disappeared heading north into the city."

There were a couple of snaps and pops, then, _"Noted. Thank you, Hakuba-kun."_

"Kudou-kun and I are on our way back to help with clean up. We were able to retrieve the _usekh_ collar."

"_Understood. I'm sure that will thrill Hamamoto-san. He's been throwing a fit about how his wife will murder him if she finds out it's been stolen."_

Saguru barely contained a sneer at the thought. Honestly, had the man been living under a rock for the passed few years? He had taken no more than a few more steps when Kudou's voice stopped him, "Hakuba-kun?"

He turned around to face the other detective, and found that Kudou's considering gaze was once more on him in an intensity that made him tense. What was so interesting about him tonight? "Is there something the matter, Kudou-kun?"

"Would you mind meeting with me tomorrow at Poirot?"

"The small place below the Mouri Agency?" Saguru asked, and pretended not to notice the minute shift in Kudou's posture that was probably a flinch. He tried to convince himself it wasn't any of his business.

"Yes, that's the one."

"That would be fine," he agreed. "I don't have any plans tomorrow." Except sleeping in, because even he needed to sleep off the effects of a Kid heist.

Kudou smiled at him then, and it inspired both feelings of curious anticipation as well as an odd sort of dread. Like he'd just walked into one of Kid's traps, and the entire world was going to get turned on its ear. But, this was just Kudou right? What could he have in mind that could cause that sort of feeling? Saguru shrugged it aside. He was just being a fool, was, probably, too hyped up from the Kid heist. They always inspired some amount of paranoia in him, and for good reason!

"Did anyone rescue the task force officer Kid was impersonating yet?" Kudou asked suddenly.

The reminder that he'd lead Kid right to the jewel colored Saguru's reply with sullenness, "I still haven't a clue how he managed that. There is no where he could have hidden him in that room."

"But there is," Kudou replied, and his tone was lightly teasing. He leaned forward to peer up into Saguru's face. Saguru couldn't help but notice he looked positively impish. "The desk."

Baffled, Saguru pointed out, "I checked under the desk."

"Yes, but didn't you notice something strange about it? Before Kid arrived it only had one set of drawers, when you checked the room–"

"It had two."

"Correct."

"How," Saguru snarled, feeling frustrated with himself for not noticing. "did he manage to hide the man with the camera trained on the desk, as well as another officer in the room?"

"When he got close to the camera during his initial arrival he probably hooked up some sort of device to interrupt and replace the feed so we wouldn't see it. As for the rest... I'm guessing the other officer was his accomplice."

"Who has, no doubt, vanished already," Saguru sighed.

"Yes, probably during the black out."

Finally, Saguru voiced the words that had been on the tip of his tongue the entire night, "Cheeky bastard."

Beside him, Kudou grinned. "Well, I _did_ try to warn you, but you weren't listening."

–

Saguru strode down the sidewalk toward Poirot with a notebook and slim manila folder held in the crook of one arm. In his other hand he was, once more, checking his pocket watch. It looked like he was going to be a few minutes early, but he was pretty sure that Kudou would already be there regardless. They often met like this, after cases or Kid heists. Both of them were, after all, interested in keeping detailed records of their cases, and it was always best to compare notes. There were chances that one of them had forgotten, or missed, details that the other would have. He closed his watch with a snap, and pocketed it again. Just a few feet ahead of him Saguru could see the small sign emblazoned with the little cafe's name.

Upon entering the establishment, he found it to have a distinct clientele gathered at the small tables. Most of them looked to be of police nature, actually. It wasn't hard to spot Kudou among them all. Despite Kudou's unfortunate state of being a near twin to Kuroba, Saguru could only recall one other person who had the same strict hair-style as Kudou Shinichi, no matter how hard Kuroba tried to pull it off, or how well he often managed it, he couldn't fool him any longer.

Kudou, however, was not alone, though he didn't seem to be enjoying the company of the man sprawled in the chair opposite him at all. Saguru couldn't remember the last time he'd seen such a disgruntled look on Kudou's face. Thinking back on it, he couldn't help but think that last night, and now, were perhaps the most animated he'd ever seen the reserved man. Saguru had never really thought about it before, but it really didn't mesh with how Kudou had been described before, and it made him wonder.

With a firm reminder that the way Kudou acted wasn't something he ought to be worrying about, because, surely, Kudou could take care of himself, Saguru shoved the thoughts aside and approached the table. When he drew near he heard the tail end of the man's grumbles as he addressed Kudou, "–can't see why she still talks to a brat like you, but she asked me to give you this."

On the table, Kudou's hands tightened around the mug of coffee he was clutching like it were the only thing keeping him from either punching the man, or stalking out of the cafe. An envelope was tossed onto the table top where it skidded across the sleek surface to rest near Kudou's hands. He made no move to touch it, and instead merely murmured a thank you. The entire scene made something nip at the back of Saguru's mind that felt a little like agitation.

"Good afternoon, Kudou-kun, I hope I'm not late," he interrupted. Saguru sent a look under his lashes at the man who had been addressing Kudou. "Mouri-san."

Somehow, he wasn't all that surprised to see Mouri Kogorou looking right back at him. The Sleeping Detective, whose magic had worn off years ago, had a look on his face of such disgruntlement that it wouldn't have been out of place on a cat. "Good afternoon," Kudou murmured as he returned the greeting. He looked up at him with a flat smile that didn't reach his eyes like the smiles had the night before. "I doubt you're capable of being late, Hakuba-kun."

Mouri grunted, then gathered up his newspaper, and vacated the seat he'd been lounging in. "Well, I've delivered it, so I can let you get back to your tea party or whatever."

Saguru watched the man leave, a frown on his face, until he was out of the shop. Mouri passed in front of the large window at the front of the shop, paused, stretched, and yawned widely as if the hour were far too early to be awake, then ambled on out of sight. Saguru gave a slight sniff of disdain, then finally settled himself into the chair that had been so recently vacated. With an absent air he set his things on the table. "That was... friendly."

Kudou gave a lethargic shrug of one shoulder. "He blames me for a lot of things, and we weren't ever on the friendliest terms anyway."

He wanted to say something, anything, to that that would take the look of retreat from Kudou. There was just something about the situation that made Saguru want to step in. After that, he wasn't at all sure what he would do, what he _could_ do. "I see." His fingers automatically fiddled with the alignment of his notebook and folder. The slim white line of the envelope caught his attention, and, before he realized what he was doing, Saguru heard himself blurt, "Are you going to open that?"

Across from him, Kudou seemed to come out of whatever stupor he'd descended into, and looked up. Saguru found himself pinned in place by the sheer power of Kudou's stare. It reminded him of those laser looks the other man often used on criminals when they solved cases, only it didn't have the same edge of anger. It struck him then, that it was the same considering stare from last night, and, Saguru was almost ashamed to admit, it made him want to squirm. He fought the urge down and calmly opened his notebook to a fresh page.

It was as he was marking down the heist number, and the target, in English rather than Kanji, that the waitress arrived. Only then did Kudou's intense regard leave him, "Enomoto-san."

"I hope Mouri-san wasn't too hard on you, Kudou-kun. We don't see nearly enough of you anymore."

Saguru turned his attention to the young woman who stood beside their table, idly categorizing her face with the name he'd just heard. Her hair was in a simple cut that went to her shoulders and a little farther, with a high hair line and no bangs. She wore the uniform that denoted her as one of the waitresses, along with a concerned look on her face. "It's fine, and nothing to worry about. He's just never gotten over the decline in his fame, and I guess I make a good target."

Then Kudou glanced his way again, and his attention didn't waver. Saguru could feel a faint flush coming to his cheeks under that penetrating stare. "I thought, since it had been awhile I would come meet my friend here," Kudou went on. "This is Hakuba Saguru, my work partner."

The waitress gave him a polite bow, and a smile that was oddly tinged with gratefulness. "Enomoto Azusa. It's good to know someone is watching Beika's ace detective's back out there."

"Someone has to," he found himself saying, a slight smirk sliding into place as he sent Kudou a sidelong glance. Kudou raised his brows in what Saguru took as a silent touché.

Enomoto laughed cheerfully. "What can I get for you, Hakuba-san?"

The reminder that he was at an establishment had Saguru sending a withering stare at the cup of coffee sitting beside Kudou's notebook. Looking back up, while he ignored Kudou's amusement, he asked, "You wouldn't happen to have any European imports would you?" No matter how long he was in Japan he couldn't seem to shake years of taste and preference that he'd gotten from growing up in Great Britain.

She placed a finger to her chin, then glanced down and aside in thought, "We serve Earl Grey, and Lady Londonderry, as well as several blends of Green tea."

"A cup of Earl Grey would be wonderful, thank you." And, maybe he had said that just a little too cheerfully, because Saguru thought he had just heard Kudou _laugh_ at him.

"With a dash of milk," Kudou said, with amusement as thick in his voice as ever. Saguru shot him a narrow eyed glare under the laughing gaze of the waitress. "I've seen you make your tea enough to know by now how you prefer it, Hakuba-kun."

He watched Kudou lean back in his seat, one elbow resting up on the low back, while his other arm rested on his thigh. Kudou was smirking as well, his blue eyes hooded and an oddly smug look on his face. It was out of place, Saguru couldn't help but think, in this situation. It was more like Kudou's attitude when he had figured out a case long before Saguru did. Saguru had never been fond of not knowing, and was even less fond of the feeling when it involved a case. Right now, he was finding a place in time where he absolutely abhorred the feeling: a time where it concerned himself.

"Kudou-kun..." he began, only to be cut off as his tea arrived, and Enomoto set it lightly on the table.

"If you need anything else..." she murmured, bowing politely once more before she headed to serve a couple of new arrivals.

Across from him, Kudou reached out to pick up his cup to take a drink. Saguru was almost one hundred percent certain that he was using the motion to hide his expression. It was a tactic he'd seen people use in the past, even Kudou. Though what Kudou could possibly have to hide right then was beyond him. Perhaps more amusement at his expense? It hurt a little to think Kudou was just having a lark.

What would come next? Kudou announcing something that would completely shatter life as he knew it?

Saguru shoved down the messy and mixed array of emotion stirring nauseously in his stomach, and focused on making sure his tea was to his taste. He could see Kudou setting his coffee cup down, and watched as he finally picked up the envelope that Mouri had left for him. Kudou tucked it neatly between two pages of his notebook, then flipped to a blank page. As Kudou pulled the cap off his pen, Saguru took a steadying sip of his tea to calm his haywire nerves. Whatever Kudou was playing at, he would deal with it calmly.

However, the worry at the back of his mind that Kudou might have every intention of bringing their strange rivalry beyond the bounds of the heists wouldn't be forgotten. Saguru took another gulp, decided that between the two of them Kudou and Kuroba were going to do away with the last of his sanity, and got them started, "Kid arrived at exactly twenty-four hundred hours, twenty-six minutes, and fifteen seconds. I left central command to survey his entry point at twenty-four hundred hours, twenty-eight minutes, and one second."

Facts, time, and personal observations flew back and forth between the two of them until Saguru found himself completely lost to the familiar rhythm of case review. No one paid them any mind once they realized that the two of them were more or less speaking a language all their own, though he suspected a few of the cops in the restaurant could follow them well enough if they wanted. All the same, the two of them kept their voices low to prevent as much being overheard as possible, not, of course, like it wouldn't all get out eventually anyway.

He couldn't help but think that it was an interesting contrast to their usual exchanges. Here, in his notes, a far wider view of the heist was unfolding due to Kudou's choice to stay on the sidelines. Normally the two of them shared space, worked in close quarters, in an effort to both work against each other to get to the Kid first, and to keep an eye on what the other was doing. The notion that something had changed that Saguru was unaware of came back forcefully. He tightened his grip on his pen. His eyes tracked across the words he'd jotted down in neat rows and clusters as if he were hoping that, somehow, they would reveal to him what was going on.

Saguru nearly jumped out of his skin at the light touch on his hand. He jerked his head up to stare, wide eyed, at Kudou's pale fingers resting on the upper curve of his pointer finger. Slowly he looked further up to find Kudou's focused blue eyes regarding him a lot closer than usual. Kudou had taken to leaning against the table, his other arm tucked against his chest. A faint smile greeted Saguru's startled and perplexed gaze. "Could I see your notes on the hostage case from a few days ago?"

"I.." Saguru found himself lost for a moment as his brain took a few seconds to travel the scenic route and catch up. "Yes. Yes, of course, my apologies. I seem to have been caught in my thoughts... A moment if you would?"

Kudou sat back, looking oddly satisfied about something. The look set his nerves on edge again, and Saguru grit his teeth in an effort to quell the flustered feeling that was rushing through him. When had _Kudou_ of all people ever been able to fluster him, and, on that note, when had Kudou ever initiated contact with him? They were both rather reserved people, and physical contact was usually the more tactile Kuroba's territory.

It took a great deal more effort than he really thought it should have to force himself back on task, but he quickly found the page in question and slid his notebook toward Kudou. That didn't stop the seething grip of confusion from getting worse when Kudou _smiled_ at him. It wasn't just any smile, it was that smile that he'd seen charm people in the past; the one that was just this side of arrogance, and instead showed confidence, but only over as a veneer against the shy insecurity peaking out beneath. He'd always thought it was engineered to present exactly the type of person that could charm, and coerce, but, now, having it directed at him... That smile was completely genuine. Saguru didn't know what it said that in caught him just as tightly as it had ensnared various people in the past.

Then Kudou took his focus away, and turned it on that sheet of paper. Saguru felt oddly like he was a positive ion that had only just realized what it felt like to have the complete attention of a its negative neighbor turned on it, only to find itself without moments later. He sat there, staring sightlessly at the simple pictures hanging in a neat line on the wall over Kudou's shoulder, and trying to figure out why his lungs felt like they'd just been filled with cold air.

Shaken, Saguru yanked himself roughly back to the present, and leveled a glare on Kudou's bent head, "Kudou-kun, I don't know what–" Kudou looked up at him with a patiently expectant look on his face that made Saguru nearly swallow his tongue. "I, no, it is nothing of great import. We need to sign this so I can turn it into Nakamori-keibu later today." Weakly, he lay his hand on the manila folder he'd brought with him.

Kudou nodded faintly, and turned back to the two notebooks open on the table before him.

Saguru sat back in his chair with a little more of a slump than he'd strictly meant. His flabbergasted gaze rested bluntly on Kudou, who seemed content to ignore him, or perhaps, just to let him stare. He honestly didn't know what to make of Kudou's sudden change in behavior. It was such a sudden deviation, and made absolutely _no_ sense in whatever context his mind could dream up, and dream up it did. Even though it wasn't a conscious process, Saguru was already sifting through various scenarios as if this were a case where he was mentally profiling his suspect.

He wasn't acting guilty, obviously. No, Kudou had all the signs of a man well in control of a situation. Whatever situation it was seemed to have Saguru himself at the center of it, and why he was at the center of it was the question. Saguru slid easily into the analytic frame of mind, leaving the churn of emotion behind, and began putting the puzzle pieces together.

Firstly, he had noticed Kudou's change of behavior at last night's Kid heist. Normal behavior on a heist night was the two of them more or less ignoring each other unless absolutely needed, while they tried to beat each other to the information, as well as Kid's location. The person who got closest to capturing Kid was always the one he focused on.

It seemed childish, and petty, but it made sense to them. Their relationship existed on a scale of challenges, after all.

The second factor was that Kudou's attention hadn't been on Kid, not really. Instead he seemed to be focused on _him._

And, now there was this odd confidence and, apparently, some form of knowledge. Something had changed between that day Kudou had left class early, and the Kid heist, and Saguru wanted to know what it was. He hated to admit that a part of him was worried Kudou had figured out a way to bring their rivalry crashing down. As much as Saguru refused to say it aloud, Kuroba really was pretty much his only friend, well, and then he could add Kudou to that now.

A chilly knot settled in his stomach as the thought occurred to him: What would be the fall out of this entire mess? He'd tried hard not to contemplate it, but now it the truth was forcing its way into his mind. No matter what happened someone was going to get hurt, and he didn't really want to see it happen. A colder part of himself firmly thought that that was life, and he should move beyond it, but...

"Thank you, Hakuba-kun," Kudou's voice interrupted his racing thoughts, and Saguru looked up. He felt more than a little lost as he took his notebook back, and snapped it closed. "Did you want to see my own?"

"No. I will get them from you at a later time, for now..." he shoved the folder toward Kudou. "I have already put my signature on it, so all that is left is yours."

Kudou nodded complacently, and flipped the folder open. Saguru watched him scan the pages, just a report on what the two of them had done during the last heist, then sign off on it, and hand it back. He couldn't help but think Kudou's grip lingered for a moment longer than strictly necessary when he reached out to take the folder, and that curious look was back on Kudou's face as well. Saguru swallowed the questions eating at him. It wouldn't do to cause a scene by turning into a raving lunatic in the middle of the cafe.

"If you're done then?"

"Yes, I think I am."

They paid, and exited the cafe.

Saguru stood silently watching Kudou, who stood a few paces further away. For the moment Kudou's outward confidence seemed to have disappeared, and he was warring with himself over something. So, Saguru waited, because he knew that, whatever Kudou was going to say, it would probably lead him to the answers he was chasing. Finally, Kudou turned to him, "I have something I want to talk to you about, so..."

"In private, I take it," Saguru commented lightly.

"It would probably be for the best."

Nothing more need be said, and, after a moment's hesitation more, Kudou turned and headed down the street in the direction Saguru knew his home lay in. He could count the number of visits he'd paid to the Kudou home on one hand. Kudou was an _extremely_ secretive person, and Kuroba and he rarely ever found themselves visiting the vicinity let alone Kudou's home. Kudou usually came to them, rather than the other way around. It was simply yet another piece of the jigsaw that made up the frustratingly confusing man. If Kaitou Kid were a game of chance, then Kudou Shinichi was a V-cube 7.

Of course, that just meant that Saguru needed to figure out the equation to solve Kudou's puzzle, didn't it?

The walk was one of silence, Saguru keeping his own council, even as his curiosity grew. It wasn't until they reached the gates to the manor that anything broke the quiet atmosphere, "Kudou-kun?"

A young girl had stepped out of the neighboring property, and was giving Kudou a bland stare. "Haibara-chan," Kudou returned blithely. Saguru glanced between the pair of them. When he looked back at the girl, Haibara, he found her looking back at him.

Her stare was unnerving for someone her age, and immediately set his teeth on edge even as he was sharply reminded of something. Then, she turned back to Kudou, her hands gripping the bars of the gate to keep it open. "Agasa-hakase wanted me to tell you that your parents left a message with him for you. They want you to call at your soonest convenience."

"Thank you, Haibara-chan."

The girl nodded, shot Saguru another flatly curious stare, then disappeared back behind the walls of the neighboring residence. Kudou silently tugged the gates of his own home open, and lead Saguru up to the front door.

Inside, Kudou showed him into the sitting room, absently tossed his notebook on a side table, and gestured for him to sit down. Saguru chose to settle himself into one of the arm chairs, and watched Kudou curiously. The other man was standing several feet away, his back toward him. He seemed to be trying to decide what to say.

Just when Saguru was about to prompt the man, Kudou turned, and gave him a frank look. "I think you know, as well as I do, that this needs to come to an end."

Saguru tensed immediately. He could hear the echo of his own thoughts in Kudou's words, and a large part of him didn't like it. He could recognize the need to deny in himself, but he wouldn't pretend like he didn't know what Kudou was talking about. Instead, he would face this head on if Kudou were going to. "If you think I'm just going to back down and give up," he started. Saguru could hear the sharp anger and hurt hidden under the sarcastic bite of his own words.

"I think," Kudou spoke up sharply, cutting across the tirade before it could even begin. "That I have a solution to this... _problem_."

"And that would be?"

That laser focus was once more on him. He'd never really known what it felt like to be under that gaze like this, and he was only just beginning to realize that there were different _levels_ to it. This wasn't the way Kudou looked at the criminals he caught. It was closer to how he looked at _Kid_.

"I've thought about it," Kudou said. He was moving closer now, his eyes locked on Saguru, and so intense it felt like he was being physically pinned in place. It was taking everything he had not to squirm. "And I don't think we're going about this the right way. Whoever said we had to fight over him?"

"K-kudou..?"

He was standing right over him now. Saguru could feel a flush rising in his cheeks. Kudou leaned forward, bracing his hands against the arms of the chair. "I don't find you unattractive, Saguru-kun." His voice, nothing more than a low murmur, made him swallow, hard.

"What are you suggesting?" Saguru asked, wary to the end.

One of Kudou's hands came up and cupped Saguru's cheek, then his fingers slid into the hair near his nape. The touch made his skin crawl in a pleasant way, and he wondered if maybe he didn't find Kudou unattractive either. He knew that, physically, he might. He did, after all, find Kuroba attractive.

"I'm suggesting," Kudou went on. He was still using that low tone of voice that spoke straight to Saguru's hormones. "That we don't need to _fight_ about this. Just because the socially acceptable norm is that of a monogamous couple, doesn't mean we can't look outside of that."

"Ah." What Kudou was suggesting, what he was offering... He felt a little dizzy at the thought of it. Part of him rebelled, thought it was _wrong_ to even contemplate, but another part of him felt like the thought, the idea, had clicked into place and cleared up _so much_.

"The question is... can you find _me_ attractive too? I think the possibility is there," Kudou admitted. "I probably wouldn't have even thought about this if I hadn't. You obviously like me as a friend, at the very least, and as a work partner. We get along well for the most part..." There were things left unsaid there; things like: And I've been watching lately, and I can _see_ things now. Saguru was sure he could, because he was starting to _see_ things as well.

"I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe. Maybe I could. I... I admit I haven't even _considered..._"

Kudou's lips quirked up in that hauntingly enigmatic smile of his again. "We can always find out, can't we?"

"Kudou-kun... What?"

His train of thought was derailed when Kudou wet his lips, his eyes fixated on the movement as it occurred to him that Kudou might just be planning to kiss him now. Saguru realized he had no idea how to react to this situation a heartbeat later. Slowly, as if Kudou were afraid he was going to bolt, he slid a knee in beside Saguru's hip. Kudou's other hand came up and gripped the back of the chair beside Saguru's head as the other man shifted to settled his other knee on the other side of him, effectively straddling him. Kudou kept enough of his weight off of him that it wasn't uncomfortable, but the fact that he had _Kudou Shinichi_ in his lap...

Saguru was pretty sure his brain had just stuttered to a halt.

Kudou's fingers touched lightly under his chin, coaxing his head to tilt back. He had a moment to wonder if the position was to keep him from bolting, because he wasn't sure he wouldn't have, given the chance. His heart thudded in his chest, and a potent cocktail of nervousness and anticipation made him feel warm all over. Then Kudou's lips were on his, just a slight press and slight movements. He froze up for a moment, tensing, before forcing himself to relax, and _just enjoy it_. Saguru slid his hands up Kudou's clothed thighs to rest on his hips. His fingers pressing into the feel of warm flesh and muscle just beneath the other man's clothing.

Kudou made a soft sound in the back of his throat, and slid his hands into Saguru's hair where his fingers raked through his normally neatly combed blond hair, and set it astray. It made pleasant shivers chase themselves down his spine. Saguru tugged Shinichi just a little closer. Kudou's eyes were closed as he trailed his lips to the corner of Saguru's mouth, nipping lightly, before continuing downward to mouth the line of his jaw bone.

His every breath slid out of him in an erratic rhythm. Kudou's hair was soft, and well taken care of as it slid against his cheek, he noted absently. Saguru slid his own hands upward, flattening his palms against the curve of Kudou's spine. The feel of teeth scraping, ever so lightly, over the lobe of his ear sent a spark of pleasure skittering down his spine. Kudou's lips followed, then his tongue teased ever so slightly, a bit of suction, and he pulled away, breath ghosting over Saguru's damp skin.

Then they were kissing again, but this time it was deeper. Kudou's lips parted against his, inviting, and he took the chance. Saguru slid his hand up to tangle his fingers in the hair at the base of Kudou's skull. He wasn't sure what to think of the slide of their tongues, or the feel of Kudou sucking lightly on his. It was wet, and a prim part of him insisted it was disgusting, and not because Kudou tasted strongly of the coffee he'd been enjoying not so long ago. Despite that, he knew that, yes, he could definitely be attracted to Kudou.

One thing hounded his mind, though, as they pulled apart, and Saguru found himself admiring the image of a flushed Kudou Shinichi trying to regain his breath in his lap. He took a deep breath, and let it out in an attempt to even his own breathing. "Aren't you afraid I could just be attracted to you because you look so much like Kuroba-kun?"

"No," Kudou breathed, voice a bit hoarse yet. "You know us too well. I know you can see me, and I know you can see him."

"Kudou-kun–"

"I think," Kudou broke in, leaning into him a little more. Saguru choked back a faint gasp, and tightened his grip on him. "You can call me by my name."

"Shinichi-kun," Saguru tried, testing the flavor of the name on his tongue. He found he didn't mind it much at all. "If we're going to do this..."

"We'll have to plan our approach to Kuroba-kun carefully," Kudou murmured. Saguru felt it more than he heard it, because Kudou, Shinichi, had found something interesting in drawing patterns on his neck with his tongue.

"Y-yes." Was that his voice, broken and hoarse, and thick?

"It will give us plenty of time to practice then," Shinichi said as he sat back. There was an impish look on his face, his blue eyes hooded, and his lips stretched into an almost Kid-like grin.

Saguru couldn't help but wonder what he'd gotten himself into, even as he knew he wouldn't regret it in the least. This, he knew now, was exactly what he wanted.


End file.
